background

Ariel Balaban (she/her) is a PhD candidate 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 digital health communication around substance use, particularly with increasing accessibility and acceptability of health information. 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, climate change, and improving health outcomes for populations susceptible to HIV. Her most recent research has been with the University of Maryland Prevention Research Center exploring strategies promoting tobacco/nicotine prevention and quitting among LGBTQ+ youth and young adults. She is currently an adjunct professor at University of Maryland in Health Informatics (HLTH672) and works in the University Career Center supporting both undergraduate and graduate students with professional development. She is also a proud organizer for UMD’s Graduate Labor Union (UMD-GLU), and is committed to securing collective bargaining rights for graduate workers.