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Draft:Peter Joseph Torres

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Peter Joseph Torres
Born1991 (age 33–34)
CitizenshipAmerican
Academic background
EducationUniversity of California, Davis (MA, PhD)
University of California, Los Angeles (BA)
ThesisThe Nation’s Fix: The Language of the Opioid Crisis
Doctoral advisorVaidehi Ramanathan, Robert Bayley
Academic work
DisciplineLinguistics
Sub-disciplineApplied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Discourse Analysis
InstitutionsArizona State University
Websitewww.petertorresphd.com

Peter Joseph Torres is an American linguist, discourse analyst, and academic who specializes in applied sociolinguistics, focusing on health discourse and language policy.[1][2] He is currently an Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics in the Department of English at Arizona State University.[2] Torres's research integrates qualitative and quantitative methodologies to examine written and spoken discourses on health and policy issues, with particular emphasis on the opioid epidemic in the United States. [3][4][5]

Education

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Torres received his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of California, Davis, in 2022, with his dissertation titled "The Nation's Fix: The Language of the Opioid Crisis." [4] His doctoral and qualifying committee included co-advisors Vaidehi Ramanathan and Robert Bayley, along with Georgia Zellou, Stephen G. Henry M.D., and John A. Hawkins[6]. He earned his Master of Arts in Linguistics from UC Davis in 2018 with his thesis titled "Low Pitch and Creaky Voice as Linguistic Resources: Describing Pain, Narrating Symptoms, and Requesting for Opiates in Medical Consultations" with Ramanathan as advisor and Bayley and Zellou as members. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and Anthropology, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles, 2015[7], where he received a "senior of the year" award[8].

Career

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Torres has held several academic positions throughout his early career. Before joining Arizona State University as an Assistant Professor in 2023[9], he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Heanon Wilkins Fellow at Miami University (2022-2023).[7][10] Prior to that, he served in various teaching roles at the University of California, Davis, including Associate Instructor of Linguistics, Associate Instructor of Education, and Graduate Teaching Assistant (2016-2022).[7]

Research

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Torres employs mixed-method approaches to analyzing spoken and written discourses related to health issues.[11] His research has used discourse analysis to investigate how policymakers use language to address the opioid crisis[12], how physicians employ linguistic strategies to save face when adhering to strict policies[13], and how patients utilize linguistic resources to convince physicians of their invisible chronic pain.[4][12][14]

His research approach includes:

  • Prosodic-, corpus-, and theme-based discourse analyses[4]
  • Policy analysis (top-down perspective)[12]
  • Interaction analysis (bottom-up perspective)[13][14]

Torres has published on the use of modal verbs in policies, analyzing how modal choices could influence the interpretive spaces in which all stakeholders operate.[15] His work on the opioid crisis investigates the interactions between policymakers, physicians, and patients, exploring how language mediates policy implementation and medical practice. He also studies how race, gender and cultural perceptions of pain affect physicians' opioid prescribing practices, highlighting how language contributes to structural inequities in healthcare.[11]

Publications

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Select Journal Articles

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Torres has published in several peer-reviewed journals, including:

  • "Face-saving strategies and the burden of opioid policy enactments: When physicians' compliance makes patients non-compliant." Journal of Pragmatics (2023)[13]
  • "The role of modals in policies: The US opioid crisis as a case study." Applied Corpus Linguistics (2021)[12]
  • "Let's talk about pain and opioids: Low pitch and creak in medical consultations." Discourse Studies (2020, with S.G. Henry and V. Ramanathan)[14]
  • "Making the most of video recorded clinical encounters: Optimizing impact and productivity through interdisciplinary teamwork." Patient Education and Counseling (2020, with S.G. Henry et al.)[16]
  • "Iráhü táu ában funátu kápa" ("The Boy with a Red Cape"), The International Journal of Garifuna Creative Writing (2015)[7]

Book Chapters

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  • "Modality and interpretive spaces in policies" in Applying linguistics in health research, education, and policy: Bench to bedside and back again (2022)[15]

Media and Public Engagement

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Torres has worked to make linguistics accessible to the public and has been featured in various media outlets discussing linguistics and healthcare communication, particularly regarding the opioid crisis. His research has garnered attention from both academic and mainstream media sources.

Notable Media Appearances

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Radio and News Interviews

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  • Torres was interviewed on NPR KJZZ Radio 91.5 in March 2024 for a segment titled "How We Talk About Opioids Can Affect a Patient's Treatment," where he discussed how patients' language and tone impact treatment outcomes, noting that patients from communities of color may be less likely to receive opioid prescriptions due to differences in language use.[17]
  • In December 2024, Torres provided commentary for NPR KJZZ Radio 91.5 in a piece titled "This AZ Nonprofit Helps Babies Exposed to Opioids, But Struggles to Get Paid by Insurance," where he addressed how bureaucratic obstacles affect healthcare delivery, describing billing errors due to unit conversion issues as unnecessary red tape in healthcare administration.[18]
  • Torres was featured in a UC Davis Health News interview in November 2021 titled "The language of the opioid crisis and its impact on policies and patients," which highlighted his research on linguistic expressions in the opioid crisis and announced his Elizabeth Dayton award for collaborative linguistic work.[19]
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  • Torres has advocated for policy approaches that also consider how the chilling effect of reactive measures may inadvertently increase harm. Torres explained in an interview with the Queen Creek Tribune for a December 2024 article titled "Arizona Seeing a Decline in Opioid Deaths," the unintended consequences of restrictive opioid prescription policies. These restrictions risk turning patients toward more dangerous street alternatives, experimental cocktails that could be laced with fentanyl or other unknown substances. Torres noted that this presents additional dangers as users would no longer have easy access to naloxone, which is typically co-prescribed with pharmaceutical opioids.[20]
  • In an October 2024 feature titled "Linguistics Work Could Improve Doctor-Patient Communications in Philippines, Beyond," Torres's visit to Mapúa University's School of Health Sciences in the Philippines received coverage from ASU News, documenting his role as the first ASU scholar to visit the institution since their partnership began.[21] Mapúa University also highlighted his lectures on discourse analysis and the opioid crisis, which attracted over 200 in-person attendees and 41,000 online via Facebook Live Mapúa University's page. [22] Following this visit, Torres has accepted the invitation to return as a keynote speaker for the Linguistic Society of the Philippines' international conference in May 2025.[7]
  • In June 2023, Teen Vogue cited Torres's research on vocal fry and its relation to opioid use in a wellness article[23] while the Federal Reserve Board of Governors referenced his work on policies and modal verbs in its publication on "Central Bank Communication about Climate Change,[24] demonstrating the range of applicability of his linguistic analysis beyond healthcare contexts.

Impact of Media Engagements

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Torres's media appearances have connected his linguistic research to contemporary social challenges, contributing to public discourse on healthcare communication and policy development. His commentary has addressed how language relates to policy implementation and medical practice, particularly in the context of the opioid crisis.

Select Awards and Recognition

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Torres has received several awards and fellowships, including:

  • The Humanities Institute Fellow at Arizona State University (2025)[25]
  • Runner-up for the Dissertation of the Year award from the American Association for Applied Linguistics (2024)[26]
  • Heanon Wilkins Fellowship at Miami University (2022)[10]
  • Elizabeth Dayton Award in Sociolinguistics from the Linguistic Society of America (2022)[27]

Professional Memberships

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Torres holds memberships in several professional organizations[7], including:

  • Linguistic Society of the Philippines (Lifetime Member)
  • Member, Linguistic Society of America (LSA)
  • Member, American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL)
  • Member, Arizona Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (AZ TESOL)
  • Member, The Health Humanities Consortium (HHC)
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  1. ^ "Peter Joseph Torres". Academic Website. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  2. ^ a b "Faculty Profile: Peter Joseph Torres". Arizona State University. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  3. ^ "Peter Joseph Torres". Research Gate. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  4. ^ a b c d Torres, Peter Joseph (2022). The Nation's Fix: The Language of the Opioid Crisis. California, United States. ISBN 9798841754428.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ "Peter Joseph Torres". Google Scholar. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  6. ^ "Peter Joseph Torres - About". Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Peter Joseph Torres CV". Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  8. ^ "Peter Torres: 2015 UCLA Senior of the Year". bruinlife.com. 27 June 2015. Archived from the original on 2025-03-14.
  9. ^ LaRue-Sandler, Kristen (2023-09-05). "7 new faculty join ASU's Department of English". ASU News. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  10. ^ a b "Heanon Wilkins Faculty Fellow". Miami University. Archived from the original on 2024-04-16.
  11. ^ a b "Research". Peter Joseph Torres Ph.D. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  12. ^ a b c d Torres, Peter Joseph (December 2021). "The role of modals in policies: The US opioid crisis as a case study". Applied Corpus Linguistics. 1 (3). doi:10.1016/j.acorp.2021.100008 – via Elsevier.
  13. ^ a b c Torres, Peter Joseph (February 2023). "Face-saving strategies and the burden of opioid policy enactments: When physicians' compliance makes patients non-compliant". Journal of Pragmatics. 205: 122–136. doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2023.01.001 – via Elsevier.
  14. ^ a b c Torres, Peter Joseph; G. Henry, Stephen; Ramanathan, Vaidehi (April 2020). "Let's talk about pain and opioids: Low pitch and creak in medical consultations". Discourse Studies. 22 (2): 174–204. doi:10.1177/1461445619893796. ISSN 1461-4456. PMC 7111341. PMID 32256188.
  15. ^ a b Torres, Peter Joseph (2022-10-24), Diaz, Brett A.; Schrauf, Robert W. (eds.), "Chapter 5 Modality and interpretative spaces in policies", Applying Linguistics in Health Research, Education, and Policy, De Gruyter, pp. 141–168, doi:10.1515/9783110744804-006, ISBN 978-3-11-074480-4, retrieved 2025-03-14
  16. ^ Henry, Stephen G.; White, Anne Elizabeth Clark; Magnan, Elizabeth M.; Hood-Medland, Eve Angeline; Gosdin, Melissa; Kravitz, Richard L.; Torres, Peter Joseph; Gerwing, Jennifer (October 2020). "Making the most of video recorded clinical encounters: Optimizing impact and productivity through interdisciplinary teamwork". Patient Education and Counseling. 103 (10): 2178–2184. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2020.06.005. PMC 7508819. PMID 32576422.
  17. ^ Brodie, Mark (2024-03-06). "How we talk about opioids can affect a patient's treatment". KJZZ. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  18. ^ Karmia, Nick (2024-12-17). "This AZ nonprofit helps babies exposed to opioids, but struggles to get paid by insurance". KJZZ. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  19. ^ Yehya, Nadine. "The language of the opioid crisis and its impact on policies and patients". UC Davis Health News. Archived from the original on 2024-06-24. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  20. ^ Preston, Mira (2024-12-07). "Arizona seeing a decline in opioid deaths". Queen Creek Tribune. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  21. ^ Bordow, Scott (2024-10-11). "Linguistics work could improve doctor-patient communications in Philippines, beyond". news.asu.edu. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  22. ^ "School of Health Sciences hosts 1st ASU scholar to visit Mapúa". www.mapua.edu.ph. 2024-08-27. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  23. ^ Latifi, Fortesa (2023-06-22). "Leah Messer's Teen Years Were Reality TV. Now We Get the Full Story". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  24. ^ Arseneau, David M.; Drexler, Alejandro; Osada, Mitsuhiro (2022-04-15). "Central Bank Communication about Climate Change". Finance and Economics Discussion Series (2022031): 30. doi:10.17016/feds.2022.031. ISSN 1936-2854.
  25. ^ Arns, Alyssa (2025-03-06). "ASU's Humanities Institute announces 2025–26 fellows". news.asu.edu.
  26. ^ "Dissertation Award - American Association For Applied Linguistics". www.aaal.org. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  27. ^ "LSA Announces Additional Awards for 2022". Archived from the original on 2024-02-28. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
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