Thomas Zhang

thomas.zhang@wisc.edu

Thomas Zhang headshot

Thomas H. Zhang (he/him/his) is a Ph.D. student at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin–Madison, specializing in experimental health communication. His research focuses on message effects in health promotion and the role of sociocultural influences in persuasive messaging. Guided by social psychology theories, he explores how moral and religious beliefs contribute to health outcomes through various psychological mechanisms, especially in the contexts of tobacco control and cancer prevention. Thomas is also keen to understand how local culture, moral convictions, and religious values influence message processing and how these elements can be integrated into contextualized health message design, with a specific focus on Southeast Asian communities. Before pursuing his doctoral studies in the U.S., Thomas earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Universiti Putra Malaysia.