background

Ariel Balaban (she/her) is a PhD student in Behavioral and Community Health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, and received a Master of Health Science (MHS) from the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has a strong interest in bridging the gap between data science and effective digital health communication, particularly with increasing accessibility, sensitivity, and acceptability of health information dissemination. She has worked on a variety of Johns Hopkins research projects related to topics such as overdose prevention and response, COVID-19 prevention, vaccine hesitancy, tobacco control, and improving health outcomes for populations susceptible to HIV. She currently works with the research team at the University of Maryland Prevention Research Center exploring strategies promoting tobacco prevention and use reduction among LGBTQ+ youth and young adults. She received her Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in public health from American University in 2019, where she minored in graphic design and first realized a love for both health science and visual communication.