Welcome! I’m a Yerby Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Graduate Fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. My work is driven by a simple goal: ensuring that everyone has access to trustworthy, useful health information—no matter who they are or where they get their news. I study how health information and misinformation move through our digital lives, with particular attention to under-reached populations who often face both health and communication inequities.
Working at the intersection of infodemiology, social network analysis, and mixed methods, I map how different communities use social media platforms, examine the health information ecosystems that form within those spaces, and test strategies to interrupt misinformation while amplifying accurate, culturally resonant messages.
I completed my PhD in Public Health Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, where my dissertation, Old Narratives on New Media: Health Misinformation in Black Digital Communities, traced the volume, themes, and diffusion dynamics of COVID 19 misinformation on Black Twitter. My work has been supported by the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry and has appeared in outlets such as the Journal of Medical Internet Research, Health Education & Behavior, and Social Science & Medicine.
Active Projects & Collaborations
I’m interested in collaborations with experts in public health, information science, communications, digital humanities, and critical media studies. Check out the Supply-side, Demand-side, and Digital ecology mapping projects tabs to learn more about my ongoing work.
Education
PhD, Public Health Sciences (Washington University in St. Louis); MPH, Epidemiology (Emory University); BS, Biology (Georgetown University)
Publications
Here’s a PDF of my CV and a list of peer-reviewed products:
Conference Presentations
Croston M. “Black people cannot get coronavirus” and other myths: A social network analysis of COVID-19 misinformation diffusion on Black Twitter. Presented at the 2024 Promoting Research in Social Media and Health Symposium. San Francisco, California.
Croston M. (2023, June) The effects of health departments’ ego networks on information diffusion during a public health crisis: Twitter as a case study. Presented at the International Association of Social Network Analysis’ 2023 Sunbelt Conference. Portland, Oregon.
Croston M. (2022, November) Twitter’s Birdwatch: A case study of crowd-sourced and community-based fact-checking. Presented at the Community Informatics Research Network’s annual conference. Prato, Italy.
Croston M., Harris J. (2022, July) Debunked?: A Comparative Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Information Sharing Networks on Twitter. Presented at the International Association of Social Network Analysis’ 2022 Sunbelt Conference. Cairns, Australia.
Croston M., Harris J. (2022, June) What’s in a jab?: The spread of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation versus fact-checks on Twitter. Presented at useR!.
Thompson T., Coats J., Croston M., Motley R., Colditz G., King K., James A. (2020, April) “I didn’t think about me”: Perspectives on supportive resources for informal caregivers of Black breast cancer patients. Presented at Society of Behavioral Medicine 42nd Annual Meeting & Scientific Meeting (virtual).
Thompson T., Coats J., Croston M., Motley R., Colditz G., King K., James A. (2020, November) “I didn’t think about me”: Perspectives on supportive resources for informal caregivers of Black breast cancer patients. Presented at the Siteman Cancer Center Research Symposium (virtual).
Gershon R., Cryder, C., Croston M. (2019, October). Risky Business: The Risk-Reward Trade-off is Different for Nonprofit and For-profit Firms. Presented at the annual Association for Consumer Research Conference, Atlanta, Georgia.
Croston M., Gershon R., Cryder, C. (2019, February). Risky Business: The Risk-Reward Trade-off is Different for Nonprofit and For-profit Firms. Presented at the annual Society for Consumer Psychology Conference, Savannah, Georgia.
Croston M., Kline J., Bish, C., Lilleston, P., Leeks, K., Massoudi, M. (2016, October). Evaluating the Associations between Structural and Contextual Characteristics and Productivity among a Network of CDC- funded Prevention Research Centers. Presented at the annual American Evaluation Association Conference, Atlanta, Georgia.
Kline J., Croston M., Bish, C., Lilleston, P., Leeks, K., Massoudi, M. (2016, September). Evaluating the Associations between Structural and Contextual Characteristics and Productivity among a Network of CDC- funded Prevention Research Centers. Presented at 2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Evaluation Day, Atlanta, Georgia.
Rabarison K., Croston M. (2016, June). How to measure public health Twitter chat participant engagement. Presented at the annual National Association of City and County Health Officials Annual Conference, Phoenix, Arizona.
Croston M., Rabarison K., Bish C. (2016, June). Evaluating Participant Engagement during a Public Health Twitter Chat: Insights from #LiveFitNOLA. Presented at the annual National Association of City and County Health Officials Annual Conference, Phoenix, Arizona.
Croston M., Shaw C., Rabarison K., Bish C., Lebow-Skelley E., Henry D., Massoudi M. (2015, November) Sandbox Play: Potential impact of PRCs’ core research projects & intended core research-related partnerships with health departments within the framework of the CDC’s Chronic Disease Domains. Presented at 143rd Annual American Public Health Association Meeting, Chicago, Illinois.
Croston M., Chandra G., Bish C. (2015, September). Innovations in Data Collection: Evaluation of the Prevention Research Center Program. Presented at the 2015 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Evaluation Day, Atlanta, Georgia.
Croston M., Rabarison K., Bish C. (2015, September). Public Health, Twitter Chats, and Evaluating Participant Engagement: A Case Study. Presented at the 2015 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Evaluation Day, Atlanta, Georgia.
Croston M., Rabarison K., Bish C. (2015, August). Public Health, Twitter, and the Big Easy. Presented at the 2015 National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media Conference, Atlanta, Georgia.
Croston M. (2014, November). Weight perception and suicide-related outcomes among high school students who were administered the national Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance survey in 2011. Presented at 142nd Annual American Public Health Association Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Journal Articles
(submitted) Croston M., Wang O, Harris J. A scoping review of literature on health misinformation and Black communities in the United States.
(preprint) Croston M, Harris J. The spread of fact-checks and the myths they debunk on Twitter: A case study of the graphene oxide myth during the COVID-19 pandemic. JMIR Preprints. 06/03/2025:73538.
Irie W., Croston M., Mahone, A. The Impact of Providers as Health Discussants on Black Women’s Interest in PrEP for HIV Prevention. Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care. 2024 January; 23: 23259582231225278. doi: 10.1177/23259582231225278.
Thompson T., Coats J., Croston M., Motley R., Sanders Thompson V., James A., Johnson L. “We need a little strength as well”: Examining the social context of informal caregivers for Black women with breast cancer. SSM - Qualitative Research in Health. 2024 February; 342: 116528. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116528.
Thompson T., Coats, J., Croston M., Motley R., Colditz, G., King, A., James, A. An exploration of the needs and experiences of informal caregivers for Black breast cancer patients. SSM - Qualitative Research in Health. 2022 December; 2. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2023.24.5.1651.
Garg R., Croston M., Thompson T., McQueen A., Kreuter M. Correlates of smoking discarded cigarettes in a sample of low-income adults. Addictive Behaviors. 2022 May; 128: 107237. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107237.
Harris J., Croston M., Hutti E., Eyler, A. Diversify the syllabi: Underrepresentation of female authors in college course reading. PLoS ONE. 2020; 15(10): e0239012. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239012.
Thompson T., McQueen A., Croston M., Luke A., Caito N., Quinn K., Funaro J., Kreuter M. Social Needs and Health-Related Outcomes Among Medicaid Beneficiaries. Health Education and Behavior. 2019: 1-9. doi: 10.1177/1090198118822724.
Rabarison K., Croston M., Englar N., Bish C., Flynn, S., Johnson C. Measuring audience engagement for public health Twitter chats: Insights from #LiveFitNOLA. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 2017; 3: e34. doi: 10.2196/publichealth.7181.
Hudson D. Kaphingst K., Croston M., Blanchard M., Goodman M. Estimates of Mental Health Problems in a Vulnerable Population within a Primary Care Setting. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. 2016; 27: 308–326. doi: 10.1353/hpu.2016.0012.