Education

B.A., English, Elizabethtown College
MLIS, Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina
Certificate of Graduate Study, Public Health, University of South Carolina

---

Background

Valerie Vera is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Information Science. Her research focuses on users' motivations for creating stigmatized mental health information and users' experiences with and circumnavigation of content moderation on social media.

---

Research Interests

health information practices; content moderation; algorithmic governance

---

Fellowships

2022

• Research Training Institute (RTI) Fellow
  
• IDEA Institute on Artificial Intelligence Fellow

---

Scholarships

2024

• Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Beta Phi Mu International Honor Society

---

Awards

2024

• CIC Internal Research Track II Grant ($500)
  University of South Carolina, College of Information and Communications
• Meritorious Abstract Award, 45th Annual Meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine
• Citation Abstract Award, 45th Annual Meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine
• Violence and Trauma SIG’s Outstanding Student Abstract Award, 45th Annual Meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine
• Robert V. Williams iSchool Student Research Award, School of Information Science, University of South Carolina

2023

• SIG-HLTH Best Health-Related Poster Award, 86th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology