Shufan Mao is a Ph.D. student specializing in health communication. Her research focuses on leveraging social media, narrative analysis, and network dynamics to design culturally tailored health interventions for underserved populations. Combining computational methods like machine learning, data science, and social network analysis, her work aims to uncover how cultural narratives shape health behaviors and create community-driven solutions that advance healthcare equity. She has previously worked on projects related to climate misinformation, crowdsourced communities, and narrative persuasion.

She holds a B.S. in Film & Television and Public Relations from Boston University and an M.S. in Communication Data Science from the University of Southern California. Before starting her Ph.D., Shufan worked in media production, editing, and social media campaigns.

Outside of academia, Shufan is an animal lover, proud pet parent to two cats and a dog who have forever taken over her couch. When she’s not researching, she becomes the home chef, trying out new recipes (for both humans and dogs), baking not-too-sweet treats, or experimenting with perfecting fruit tea slushies.