For complete and current publications:
Major Scientific Contributions
1. Digital interventions for chronic disease self-management and family caregiving
Dr. Hong’s research has developed and tested digital behavioral interventions for chronic conditions across the life course, including dementia caregiving, HIV, cancer survivorship, and chronic disease self-management. Her work has shown that culturally tailored, social media-based interventions can produce clinically meaningful improvements in depressive symptoms, caregiving mastery, medication adherence, and physical activity, with effects sustained at long-term follow-up. This body of work has shaped how the field designs scalable, personalized interventions for diverse and historically underserved populations.
2. Social media use in underserved and immigrant populations
Dr. Hong has produced foundational research on how immigrant and underserved communities use social media platforms for health information, support, and intervention engagement. Her studies have characterized the unique opportunities and challenges of using platforms such as WeChat and KakaoTalk to reach communities historically excluded from digital health research, and have informed best practices for community-engaged recruitment and intervention delivery.
3. Patient engagement, patient-provider communication, and the digital divide
Dr. Hong’s research has examined how patients use digital tools to engage with health care providers and health information, and how the digital divide perpetuates health disparities. Through analyses of large national datasets including HINTS, SEERS, CAHPS, and online patient reviews, she has documented trends in patient-provider communication, electronic patient portal adoption, and persistent digital health divides.
4. AI-enabled and intergenerational digital tools for healthy aging
Dr. Hong’s current work develops AI-enabled and emerging-technology approaches to support healthy aging and independent living. Her active projects use AI-enabled mobile tools to deliver personalized interventions for dementia caregivers, develop training tools for community health workers, and create intergenerational digital platforms to strengthen AI literacy and social connectedness among older adults.