Background: The postgraduate program in information visualization, a partnership between ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa and Faculdade de Belas-Artes - Universidade de Lisboa, presents a framework based on four disciplines – information design, data visualization, visual analytics and data journalism. The program addresses the growing need for postgraduate training in the field of visual communication of complex information. This need is particularly true when it comes to effectively communicating health-related issues, specifically those related to public health campaigns and the ones relating to the learning of information communication in the context of health education. Methods: The information visualization postgraduate program combines a theoretical-practical teaching approach where historical and contemporary case studies on health communication are presented, analysed and discussed. Examples of these are John Snow’s map of London cholera outbreak (1855) or Florence Nightingale’s rose diagram of the causes of mortality in the British army in the East (1858) and, more recently, Hans Rosling’s Gapminder (2005) or The Impact of Vaccines in the Wall Street Journal (2015). Health information dissemination and health literacy improvement are also topics developed by students in project practice, underlining a constant concern for promoting accessible and understandable information of social relevance. Findings: One of the program expected outcomes is the acquirement of information visualization skills in the field of health communication. An information poster designed in partnership with an NGO on the subject of 'premature births' was one of the projects developed that was subsequently successfully used in several public presentations. Discussion: The information poster illustrates the outcome of the interdisciplinary pedagogical approach and demonstrates that the use of clear language and appealing visual representation of data is critical for identifying risks, preventing mistakes or understanding health care benefits. The poster reveals the potential of information visualization to increase public awareness on health issues. But it also showed the importance of specific training for specific communication needs: more effective health related visualizations depend on better trained health specialists and health related professionals.

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information visualzation,health literacy,Data analysis and visualization,Information design,Data journalism,Visual analytics

• Computer and Information Sciences - Natural Sciences
• Health Sciences - Medical and Health Sciences
• Other Medical Sciences - Medical and Health Sciences
• Media and Communications - Social Sciences
• Arts (arts, history of arts, performing arts, music) - Humanities