Zhaomeng Niu, Ph.D.
Dr. Niu is interested in exploring the mechanisms behind health intervention design, implementation, and evaluation. More broadly, her work focuses on the use of emerging media technologies to design and deliver accurate and persuasive health information and interventions that will promote behavior change in a targeted population, especially the underserved and understudies populations.
Research Overview
Designing Smarter Digital Health Interventions
Dr. Niu’s research focuses on developing, evaluating, and disseminating interventions related to cancer prevention and early detection, mental health, patient-provider communication, health behavior change, health disparities, and underserved populations, such as Hispanic and Asian communities. Her recent work examines the use of AI and emerging technologies in digital health interventions.
Research Team
The people behind the science
Jemima Baskar
Research Assistant
jb1408@shp.rutgers.edu
Emily Peters
Research Coordinator
petersen@shp.rutgers.edu
Funding & Grants
Supported Research Programs
Federal, foundation, and institutional funding advancing predictive modeling of treatment responses
NIH-NIMHD
$979,441
Developing and Testing a Mobile Health Intervention to Promote Sun Protection Behaviors and Skin Examination Among Hispanics
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Brief Overview of Aims: This research project seeks to develop a mobile-based and user-centered intervention to promote sun protection and skin self-examination among a diverse sample of Hispanics using an iterative approach to capture relevant contextual issues and evaluate the preliminary effects of the intervention.
Total Dollar Amount: Year 1-$116,625; Year 2-119,416; Year 3/4/5-up to $249,000 per year
Funding Period: 2022-2027
Role: Principal Investigator
- 2022-2027
New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research
$100,000
Optimal Educational Methods to Teach Early Detection Skills for Melanoma During Skin Self-examination
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Brief Overview of Aims: The goal of this project is to test the effects of different educational skin self-examination methods including different numbers of photos, different presenting types of the materials, and other manipulation of educational materials that aim to train at-risk individuals to learn skin self-examination more effectively and identify suspicious skin lesions accurately.
Total Dollar Amount: $100,000
Funding Period: 2019-2021
Role: Principal Investigator
- 2019-2021
New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research
$50,000
Understanding Sun Protection and Skin Examination Practices Among Hispanics
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Brief Overview of Aims: The goal of this project is to use a mixed method (including both qualitative and quantitative methods) design to identify potential factors and correlates associated with skin cancer prevention practice among Hispanics and to explore whether Hispanic individuals will be interested in a mobile-based and user-centered skin cancer intervention.
Total Dollar Amount: $50,000
Funding Period: 2021-2023
Role: Principal Investigator
- 2021-2023
Publications & Impact
Selected Research Publications
2024
Associations of Social Factors and Self-Efficacy with Skin-Self Examination Intentions Among Hispanics at Risk for Skin Cancer and Their Preferences for Digital Interventions
Niu, Z., & Heckman, C. J.
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
2022
Digital Educational Strategies to Teach Skin Self-examination to Individuals at Risk for Skin Cancer.
Niu, Z., & Heckman, C. J.
Journal of Health Communication, 27(11-12), 790-800
2021
Effects of Website Interactivity on Skin Cancer–Related Intentions and User Experience: Factorial Randomized Experiment
Niu, Z., Willoughby, J. F., Coups, E. J., & Stapleton, J. L.
Journal of medical Internet research, 23(1), e18299. PMID: 33439131 PMCID: PMC7840277 DOI: 10.2196/18299
2021
Friends over doctors? The influences of source and perceived customization on College drinking
Niu, Z., Jeong, D. C., & Willoughby, J. F.
Health communication, 36(6), 671-681. PMID: 31920113 DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2020.1712034
2020
A Picture Worth a Thousand Texts? Investigating the Influences of Visual Appeals in a Text Message-Based Health Intervention
Niu, Z., Jeong, D. C., Brickman, J., Nam, Y., Liu, S., & Stapleton, J. L.
Journal of Health Communication, 25(3), 204-213. PMID: 32096455 DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2020.1731631
Achievements
Awards & Honors
2017
Top Student Award from Association for Chinese Communication Studies Division, National Communication Association
2017
Top Student Paper Award (3rd place) from Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
2016
Top-four Graduate Student Interest Group Paper from Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
Get Involved
Join our Research
Interested in advancing your research? Reach out to Dr. Niu
to learn more about opportunities to get involved.