Rivera, Yonaira M.

Yonaira M. Rivera

New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States

Assistant Professor of Communication, School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University – New Brunswick

Yonaira M. Rivera (PhD, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health) is an Assistant Professor at Rutgers School of Communication & Information. Her scholarship explores health communication initiatives to reduce Latinx health inequities. She studies social media health misinformation and cancer control and prevention using qualitatively-driven mixed-methods and community-based participatory research.

Scholarly beginnings

Envisioning possible futures in the field of communication and media studies

Learn more about Prof. Rivera’s journey

Selected readings

• Rivera, Y. M., Moran, M., Thrul, J., Joshu, C., & Smith, K.C. (2021). When engagement leads to action: Understanding the impact of cancer (mis)information among Latino Facebook users. Health Communication. (In Press)

•Sutton, J., Rivera, Y. M., Kirk Sell, T., Moran, M., Bennett, D. M., Schoch-Spana, M., Stern, E., & Turetsky, D. (2020). Longitudinal risk communication: A research agenda for communicating in a pandemic. Health Security, 19(4), 1-9.

•Building Resilience in Puerto Rico – Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg American Health Initiative: Environmental Challenges, July 2020.

•Rivera, Y. M. (2018). Reducing cancer health disparities among U.S. Latinos: A Freireian approach. International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, 11(5), 368-379.

•Oral and written testimony at the hearing “Shot of Truth: Communicating Trusted Vaccine Information” held by the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, & Broadband of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation.