Professional Experience

Assistant Professor

Fall 2020 – Present

Department of Communication

Rutgers School of Communication & Information

Community Health Educator

2013 – 2015

Moffitt Cancer Center-Ponce School of Medicine Partnership

Program Analyst

2010 – 2012

Pinellas County Department of Health and Human Services

Assistant Policy Analyst

2008 – 2010

Office of the Director/Strategy & Innovation

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

ORISE Research Fellow

2006 – 2007

Office of Vaccines Research and Review

Food & Drug Administration's Center for Biologics Evaluation & Research

Biography

Dr. Yonaira “Yoni” M. Rivera (pronouns: she, her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Rutgers University’s School of Communication & Information. Originally from Puerto Rico, Dr. Rivera’s scholarship focuses on reducing health inequities and improving the well-being of Latino/a/x and underserved communities through health communication initiatives. Her work uses qualitatively-driven mixed methods and community-based participatory research to study social media health misinformation, cancer control and prevention, and disaster relief. She specifically focuses on working with communities to develop culturally-tailored cancer educational materials for Latino/a/x audiences, understanding how engagement with health (mis)information on social media can impact health decisions, and outlining the role social media in health communication and community mobilization.

Prior to her doctoral work, Dr. Rivera was a community health educator through the U.S. National Cancer Institute’s Center for Reducing Cancer Health Disparities. She co-founded Puerto Rico Stands, a grassroots initiative that worked alongside Puerto Rican community leaders on empowerment and skill-building efforts to create a more resilient community post Hurricane María. Dr. Rivera has a Ph.D. in Social & Behavioral Sciences from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and an MPH in Behavioral Sciences & Health Education from Emory University.

Selected Awards & Honors

Douglass College Faculty Fellows Award (2024-2025)

NIH Loan Repayment Program in Health Disparities Research (L60 CA264692) (2021-2024)

NIH F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31 CA224615) (2018-2020)

NCI T32 Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Fellow (T32 CA009314) (2015-2018)

NCI Center for Reducing Cancer Health Disparities GMaP Region 1 Research Project Support Program Award (P30 CA177558-05S3) (2018-2019)

JHSPH Doctoral Distinguished Research Award (2019)

JHSPH Center for Qualitative Studies in Health and Medicine’s Dissertation Enhancement Award (2018)

Gordis Public Health Teaching Fellow (2017-2018)

Emory University’s Office of Community and Diversity 2010 “We are Emory!” 100 Community Builders (2009)