Get To Know Us

Dr. Jaime Sidani, Phd, Mph, CHES

Lab Director, Associate Professor

Jaime Sidani, PhD, MPH, CHES, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. Her research explores how media and technology can be used to promote health. She studies the links between social media use and mental health, the spread of health misinformation online, and the marketing of emerging tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and hookah, using in-depth qualitative, quantitative, and social network methods.

Dr. Sidani is currently piloting a media literacy-based tobacco prevention program in local high schools and examining COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy on social media. Her work with adolescents and young adults draws on community-based participatory methods that bring their voices into the research process.

She is also passionate about mentoring, and she works with undergraduate and graduate students to build their research, presentation, and publishing skills.

Dr. Sidani earned her PhD in Health Education from the University of Toledo, her MPH from the Northwest Ohio Consortium for Public Health, and her BA from the University of Rochester.

Dr. Kar-Hai Chu, Phd

Associate Professor

Kar-Hai Chu, PhD, is an Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Education in the School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, and an investigator with the Cancer Risk, Outcomes, and Prevention program at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.

His long-term goal is to build a program of research focused on preventing tobacco-related cancer deaths. Trained in computer science, social network analysis, online social media, and cancer prevention, he uses innovative technologies to study tobacco control. His recent projects include examining how tobacco companies market their products on social media, tracing how anti-vaccination messages spread online, developing interventions to reduce e-cigarette use among adolescents, and modeling emerging tobacco trends to inform regulatory agencies.

Dr. Chu earned his PhD in Communication and Information Sciences from the University of Hawaii and an MS in Clinical Research from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Beth Hoffman, Phd

Associate Professor

Beth Hoffman, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. Her research focuses on popular media and health, especially how media can be used for health promotion and education. She studies how health topics are portrayed on popular television, the use of entertainment education, and health information on social media. Her work draws on mixed methods, including quantitative, qualitative, and social network analyses, as well as participatory research approaches.

Her past projects include examining YouTube comments about abortion storylines on popular television programs, analyzing Twitter messages and holding focus groups with adolescents about vaping-lung disease storylines on medical dramas, and conducting qualitative and social network analyses of vaccine-related content on Facebook and Twitter (X). She is currently a Co-Investigator on an NIH-funded study of nicotine and tobacco messaging on youth-oriented social media platforms, and the Principal Investigator on a project using Reddit data to explore discourse around the health topics featured in The Pitt.

Dr. Hoffman teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on community health and entertainment media and health, and she takes part in community-academic partnerships that mentor young people and strengthen STEM education in Pittsburgh. She is a frequent speaker and media contributor, including an appearance in a 2020 Hulu documentary on anti-vaccine misinformation on social media. She is an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Health Equity, the Center for Cardiac Arrest Survival, and Pitt Cyber.

Christine Larkin, Mph

Research Coordinator

Christine Larkin, MPH, is a Project Coordinator in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. Her background sits at the intersection of health behavior and policy, with research interests in tobacco policy, health behavior and social media, and sexual and reproductive health.

In the ECHO Lab, Christine leads lab and project management, stakeholder engagement, vendor relations, and process mapping, helping keep research projects organized and moving forward.

Education and credentials

  • MPH, Health Policy and Management, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health

  • Professional Certificate, Health Care Compliance, University of Pittsburgh School of Law

  • BS, Psychology, University of Pittsburgh