Sixiao Liu, PhD is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Health Communication and Equity Lab (HCEL) in the Annenberg School for Communication. Her research focuses on advancing the understanding of health and science communication, and developing messages that are able to motivate public engagement in health behaviors such as vaccination and smoking cessation. Her research employs primarily quantitative methods to investigate the role of cognitive, emotional, and social factors in facilitating science communication. She has a strong interest in and experience working with underserved populations. She has studied the effectiveness of health communication messages in non-Western settings and in immigrant communities in the United States. More recently, as a part of the HCEL, she has been involved in multiple NIH-funded projects aiming to develop effective strategies to communicate with sexual and gender minorities, and reduce tobacco-related health disparities.
Dr. Liu received her MA in Journalism, Media, and Communication from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. She received her second MA and PhD in Communication from the University at Buffalo. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), her dissertation examined how narratives incorporated with distance cues influence young people’s attitude, behavior, and policy support regarding vaping and plastic pollution.