Junior Scholars (2022-2023 Cohort)
Ali Zain (Journalism and Mass Communication)
Ali Zain is a third-year doctoral student at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, at the University of South Carolina. His research interests are general areas of mass communication with an extensive focus on online misinformation, information processing, digital discourse in politics and public relations, and health communication. He uses traditional qualitative and quantitative methods as well as more sophisticated computational and psycho-physiological methods. Moreover, he is interested in conducting inter-disciplinary research in collaboration with domain experts from computer science, public health, and marketing. Zain has published and presented his research work at well-reputed journals and national/international conferences. He has received top student paper awards from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and the Southeast Colloquium (SEC). He has also received travel grants from the International Communication Association (ICA) and Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).
Atticus Wolfe (Sociology)
Fanghui Shi (Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior)
Fanghui Shi is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior. And she is working under the supervision of Dr. Xiaoming Li. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Preventive medicine from Shanghai JiaoTong University, China. Her research interest is leveraging advanced epidemiological designs and methods to investigate the structural barriers (e.g., structural racism and transportation barriers) to optimal health outcomes among people with HIV (PWH) at the population level. Additionally, she is interested in linking the electronic health records data, publicly available geospatial data, and questionnaire survey data and leveraging data mining methods to better understand social determinants of health disparities among PWH.
Prince Nii Ossah Addo (Epidemiology and Biostatistics)
Prince Addo is a second-year PhD Epidemiology student at the Arnold School of Public Health. His public health research experience includes training and working as a Research Officer for approximately five years. Research activities he has been involved in include data collection using observation, questionnaire administration, key informant interviews, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and publishing research papers. He has research experience in both quantitative and qualitative methods. With his background in research on sexually transmitted infections, at present, he is very interested in pursuing novel epidemiologic investigation on HIV/AIDS and improving the lives of affected populations.
Ran Zhang(Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior)
Ran Zhang is a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior. Ran’s research interests include HIV prevention and intervention, mental health of vulnerable populations, COVID-19 vaccine promotion, and stigmatization of sexual minorities. Her current research project focuses on the intersecting stigma and mental health of gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men in Zambia. Ran obtained her Master of Social Work (child welfare and social policy track) from the University of Pennsylvania and her bachelor’s degree in Finance from Ohio University. As a CHQ junior scholar, she is mentored by Dr. Xiaoming Li and Dr. Jan Ostermann.
Sarah Miller (Psychology)
Sarah Miller is a third year PhD student in School Psychology. Her research focuses on psychosocial aspects of HIV care and prevention. She is particularly interested in finding ways to improve HIV care access and engagement. In addition, she is passionate about promoting access to PrEP. Finally, she is interested in understanding and supporting mental health experiences of people living with HIV. Within the CHQ, Sarah is working with Drs. Xueying Yang and Shan Qiao on a project investigating the barriers and facilitators to PrEP use across the United States.
Wendy Chu (Psychology)
Wendy is a third-year doctoral student in the Clinical-Community Psychology program. Her research interest focuses on how cultural factors can be integrated into evidence-based mental health services to increase the access to and quality of mental health services for marginalized youth and families. Additionally, she is interested in qualitative research methods to highlight the experiences of marginalized communities in order to promote their health and wellbeing. As a CHQ Scholar, Wendy is mentored by Dr. Sayward Harrison and Dr. Cheuk Chi (George) Tam.