Jacob Rohde, PhD, MPH

Lab Director & Assistant Professor, Department of Allied Health Sciences

Dr. Rohde’s research focuses on health communication and behavioral science, particularly in areas related to cancer prevention. His work investigates how theory-informed messages and interventions can be most effectively used to discourage harmful behaviors, such as tobacco use and alcohol consumption. Dr. Rohde’s research also examines how digital technologies and social networks influence health outcomes. Dr. Rohde earned his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also holds an M.P.H. from Harvard University, an M.A. from Boston University, and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.

Sites: Google Scholar | BlueSky | PubMed | GitHub

Zexin “Marsha” Ma, PhD

Affiliate Lab Faculty & Assistant Professor, Department of Communication

Dr. Ma’s research focuses on the design and effects of health messages, particularly how narratives persuade audiences and how people respond defensively to health-risk information. Her current projects examine narrative pictorial warning labels communicating the cancer risks of alcohol, the spread and correction of health misinformation, and the use of AI-powered chatbots to support effective health communication. Dr. Ma has served as Principal Investigator on a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded project on alcohol and cancer communication. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park, and her B.A. from Communication University of China.

Sites: Personal website | Google Scholar | ResearchGate | PubMed

Erin Mead-Morse, PhD

Affiliate Lab Faculty & Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences

Dr. Mead-Morse, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut, School of Medicine. She is a social-behavioral public health researcher in the areas of tobacco control and regulatory science with an emphasis on health equity. Dr. Mead-Morse conducts multi-modal research to understand the multilevel risk factors for the use of tobacco and nicotine products, their health effects, and communication about these products and their risks in high-priority populations, with the goal of informing interventions and policy. She has been the principal investigator or co-investigator of NIH-funded studies examining the effects of flavorings in little cigars, cigarillos, and e-cigarettes on addiction and smoking, and the effects of e-cigarette use during pregnancy on maternal and child health. Currently she is also conducting research on social media portrayals of modern oral nicotine pouch use. Dr. Mead-Morse received her PhD at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Maryland’s Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science.​

Sites: Personal website | Google Scholar