Santosh Vijaykumar
Health and risk communication scientist
Specifically, he studies mobile and social media interventions for addressing global health challenges with a focus on tropical and infectious diseases. Santosh’s research analyses and evaluates the effects of both, bespoke innovations (like crowdsourced surveillance applications) as well as generic platforms (like Twitter and Facebook) on individuals, communities and health systems during infectious disease outbreaks. The research approach involves mixed methodologies, trans-disciplinary conceptualization and collaborations with policymakers, activists and the industry. His work, spanning the US, Singapore, Sri Lanka and India, has been published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Journal of Medical Internet Research, Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour among others.
Publications
2015
Social media and the virality of risk: The Risk Amplification through Media Spread (RAMS) model
Journal
Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management,
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2016
Digital participatory surveillance and the Zika crisis: Opportunities and Caveats
Journal
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
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2017
What’s buzzing on your feed? Health authorities’ use of Facebook to combat Zika in Singapore
Journal
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
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2018
Virtual Zika transmission after the first US case: Who said what and how it spread on Twitter
Journal
American Journal of Infection Control
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2018
Zika reveals India’s risk communication challenges and needs
Journal
Indian Journal of Medical Ethics
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2019
Communicating about infectious disease threats: Insights from public health information officers
Journal
Public Relations Review
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2019
Outbreak communication challenges when misinformation spreads on social media
Journal
Revista Eletrônica de Comunicação, Informação e Inovação em Saúde (RECIIS, by Brazil’s FIOCRUZ)
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2021
COVID-19 misinformation: Public health impacts, challenges and responses
Journal
National Council of Health Secretaries (CONASS, Brazil) and the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Universidad Nova de Lisboa (Portugal)
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2021
Associations between conflicting nutrition information, nutrition confusion and backlash among consumers in the UK
Journal
Public Health Nutrition
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2021
How shades of truth and age affect responses to COVID-19 (Mis) information: randomized survey experiment among WhatsApp users in UK and Brazil
Journal
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
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2021
The influences on news and social media on food insecurity and hoarding behaviour during the COViD-19 pandemic
Journal
Disaster Medicine & Public Health Preparedness
2021
Themes, Communities and Influencers of Online Probiotics Chatter: A Retrospective Analysis from 2009-2017
Journal
PLOS ONE
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2021
Dynamics of Social Corrections to Peers Sharing COVID-19 Misinformation on WhatsApp in Brazil
Journal
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
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2022
Crisis Communication
Journal
The International Encyclopedia of Health Communication
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2021
That Gut Feeling: Public Perceptions of Media Coverage and Science Surrounding Probiotic Products.
Journal
British Food Journal
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2022
Think Before You Share: Beliefs and Emotions that Shaped COVID-19 Information Vetting Cognitions among WhatsApp Users in the United Kingdom.
Journal
Telematics & Informatics
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2022
Single ‘dose’ of correct information is insufficient to provide long-term protection against COVID-19 misinformation.
Journal
PrePrint
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