Yi Yin Leong is currently a Presidential Ph.D. Fellow in the Department of Communication at the University at Buffalo. Her research focuses on health and risk communication, specifically among women and LGBTQ+ populations. She hopes to contribute and advance the current scholarship, and offer insights into the lives of marginalized and disadvantaged communities.

Educational Background

• PhD (current), University at Buffalo
• MA, University at Buffalo
• BA, University at Buffalo, SIM Global Education   
• Diploma in Business Administration, Singapore Polytechnic

Current Research

• The interplay of trust and emotions: Understanding sexually transmitted infection risk perceptions among women who have sex with women.
• Examining risk perceptions among women on the effects of PFAS on reproductive health and fertility.
• From #StayWoke to #WokeMindVirus: How Twitter and YouTube Separately and Synergistically Shape Politicized Social Media Discourse.
  

Academic Achievements

Tenzek, K. E., Lattimer, & Leong, Y. Y. (Nov, 2024). Presence Checks and Linguistic Negotiation: An Extension of the Opportunity Model for Presence During the End-of-life Process for Clinicians, Scholars, and Community. National Communication Association, New Orleans, United States. https://www.natcom.org/ 

Leong, Y. Y., Gillis, S., & Tenzek, K. E. (Apr, 2024). The interplay of trust and emotions: Examining sexually transmitted infection risk perceptions among women who have sex with women. Kentucky Conference on Health Communication, Lexington, Kentucky. https://comm.uky.edu/kchc/

Leong, Y. Y., Ophir, Y., Kountz, K., Walter, D., & Feeley, T. H. (May, 2023). Discourse Around and Misconceptions About STI Transmission Among Women Who Have Sex with Women (WSW): A Content Analysis on Reddit. International Communication Association, Toronto, Canada. https://www.icahdq.org/ 

Dong, X., & Leong, Y. Y. (Aug, 2022). Pro-Mask or Anti-Mask? A Content Analysis of Online News about the COVID-19 pandemic. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Detroit, United States. https://www.aejmc.org/ 

Leong, Y. Y., & Yang, J. Z. (Aug, 2022). Blame, risk perception, and support for travel restriction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Detroit, United States. https://www.aejmc.org/