Hello! I’m a PhD candidate in the Public Health Sciences program at Washington University in St. Louis, a Chancellor’s Graduate fellow and Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin fellow, and an inaugural recipient of the Center for Critical Internet Inquiry’s Tech Impact Network Dissertation Fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles. I have theoretical and applied research interests in how and why health misinformation spreads on the internet and how to combat it. Current projects use social network analysis and traditional statistics to evaluate fact-checking approaches and to explore the ways in which COVID-19 misinformation spreads on Twitter compared to other information types. My dissertation research examines the prevelance and diffusion dynamics of popular COVID-19 misinformation narratives on Black Twitter and is the first in a series of project that will investigate the health information ecosytem of online Black discursive networks. Complementary to my research interests, I am devoted to promoting gender and racial diversity in data science and am a co-organizer of RLadies Honolulu.

Active Projects & Collaborations

I’m interested in cross-disciplinary collaborations with experts in public health, information science, communications, digital humanities, and critical media studies. Check out the Health Misinformation, Health Networks, and DEI & Belonging projects tabs to learn more about my work.

Education

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 2023 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

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.