People
Director
Sojung Claire Kim is an Associate Professor and a Founding Director of the Communication, Health, and Relational Media (CHARM) Lab in the Department of Communication at George Mason University. Her research interests broadly lie at the intersections of emerging technologies, health and risk communication, and strategic messaging. Kim received her doctorate in Mass Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed her post-doctoral fellowship in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
Current Members (Meet the CHARMpions!💚)
[CHARM Lab SP25 Social] From left to right, Katie, Narges, Lia, Sogol, Debby, Dr. Kim, and Juli
[CHARM Lab FA24 Social] From left to right, Debby, Juli, Aaron, Dr. Kim, Katie, and Sogol
Wanlun (Debby) Chung (Ph.D. Student): Her research interests lie in strategic communication and communication technologies. She joined the lab research group in Fall 2024 and is leading the parasocial interaction (PSI) project.
Narges Ghafary (Ph.D. Student): As a doctoral student, she is interested in studying immigrant health, intersectionality, and social change. Previously, she has worked with UNICEF on social and behavior change interventions and with World Vision on campaigns addressing child marriage, women’s empowerment, and community health.
Aaron Trujillo (Ph.D. Student): His research interests lie in health communication, including patient-provider communication and public health campaign messaging. This semester, he is leading a project that examines a potential impact of the AI-based communication when promoting skin cancer prevention messages.
Naessiamba Eab-Aggrey (Ph.D. Student): She is interested in health literacy and the adoption of digital health technology. Her work centers on leveraging communication strategies to improve health outcomes and promote well-being in underserved populations. She is particularly committed to addressing challenges faced by those impacted by limited health literacy. She also explores the adoption of digital health technologies like e-pharmacy and examines how this shift affects communities and healthcare providers.
Kaitlin Cashin (MA Student): She is interested in studying strategic communication theories and practices. Upon graduation, she wants to apply what she learns from her research to the Air Force public affairs practices.
Juliana Marcello (Undergraduate Student): She is interested in studying strategic communication practices. She is currently working on the parasocial interaction (PSI) project with other lab members.
Sogol Khermandar (Undergraduate Student): She is interested in examining health communication messaging strategies in the context of mental health issues. She is working on the parasocial interaction (PSI) project with other lab members.
Lia Zakiyyah (Ph.D. George Mason University)
Current Position: Research Assistant, Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason University
Research Area: Her research focuses on climate change communication, social identity and collective climate actions. At Mason, she was also involved with the Mason Center for Climate Change Communication conducting research on media, social media and climate change messaging.
Eryn Campbell (Ph.D. George Mason University)
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Climate Science, University of Pennsylvania
Research Area: Her research centers around topics regarding climate change and health communication.
Nate S. Brophy (Ph.D. George Mason University)
Current Position: Social Scientist, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Research Area: His research interests include health communication, end-of-life communication, persuasive messaging, and instructional communication.
Christian Seiter (Ph.D. George Mason University)
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Human Communication Studies, California State University-Fullerton
Research Area: His research focuses on motivating families to find positive and meaningful ways to engage in advance care planning.
Adebanke L. Adebayo (Ph.D. George Mason University)
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Washburn University
Research Area: Her research interests include intercultural health communication, maternal and neonatal health, death and dying, health equity, and global health.
Katherine Hyatt Hawkins (Ph.D. George Mason University)
Current Position: Social Scientist, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Research Area: As the first lab RA, she played a vital role in multiple research projects, including developing questionnaire instruments; creating moderator training material; recruiting and moderating participants; and analyzing data for scholarly publications. Being part of the CHARM Lab allowed her to further hone her comfortability with biometrics and to apply it to her eye tracking work as an intern at the National Cancer Institute.