Meryl St. John is a Ph.D. student in Health Services Research at Boston University School of Public Health. She holds a Master's in Medical Anthropology and Cross-Cultural Practice from Boston University School of Medicine, in the course of which she designed and executed a research study about how women create and utilize Internet peer support groups for physical and emotional health. Her primary research interests focus on peer support in virtual spaces, particularly how people evaluate and implement advice they receive from the Internet and how participation in lay therapy may transform aspects of the clinical encounter. She is also interested in the spread of technomyths, urban legends and medical memes about sickness and healing, especially anti-vaccination beliefs and other dangers to public health.
She is currently heading the development team for a new patient-centered readmission evaluation tool that will measure and assess patient-centered readmission risks, including cultural and behavioral risk factors.
