Staff: Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou, PhD, MPH

Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou, PhD, MPH, is a Program Director in the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB) of the Behavioral Research Program (BRP) at NCI. A prolific health communication scholar with over 100 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Chou has led a number of NIH initiatives on the impact of the evolving communication landscape on public health and cancer control. Her research interests include social media, online health information quality, health literacy, and end-of-life cancer care. Trained as a sociolinguist, she has expertise in qualitative and mixed methods analyses of health care and online interactions. She has led several large NIH initiatives on the impact of changing information landscape on health communication, including funding initiatives on social media and substance use and addiction.

Dr. Chou holds MS and PhD degrees in Linguistics from Georgetown University, an Interdisciplinary Master of Public Health from UC Berkeley, Bachelor of Art in Music (piano performance) from Santa Clara University, and completed a postdoctoral Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program at NCI.



Secondary Branch/Office Appointment:  Implementation Science (IS)


Scientific Interests

  • Social media
  • Palliative care and goals of care communication
  • Patient-provider communication
  • Qualitative and mixed methods health research
  • Health literacy
  • Global cancer control research
  • Online health information quality

Selected Publications and Presentations

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