What is Sabena's story?

Sabena Abdul Raheem is a doctoral researcher, teaching assistant, and the author of Growing Up Muslimah. Sabena was also a TV show host on MaxTv Ghana and made regular appearances on TV and Radio discussing various topics. She holds a B.S. in Business Management from Ghana, and an M.A. in Mass Communication from the University of Cincinnati. 

Her research integrates behavioral and media theories to investigate public health messaging, digital health technology adoption, and crisis communication within evolving media ecosystems.

Sabena’s primary goal is to advance health communication by designing and evaluating evidence-based strategies that encourage preventive health behaviors and foster equitable adoption of digital health technologies. Critically, she is interested in translating the resulting evidence into communication protocols and technology-design recommendations for public-health agencies, healthcare organizations, community partners, and technology developers.

Supported by fellowships from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and the ACT fellowship, her recent work focuses on FemTech adoption, data privacy, and health-seeking behaviors among underserved populations.

In addition to her academic research, she is committed to public engagement and student mentorship. Sabena contributed to the Iowa Stories and Lived Experiences of African Immigrant Farmers, Daily Iowan, Graduate Grant Review, Journal of Applied Communication Research and currently the Reviews Editor of the Journal of Communication Inquiry. She is also served as the director of Communication for the Graduate Student Association of Ghana USA (2025-26), and creates educational content on higher education and sharing study abroad resources on TikTok.

Research Grants

• AAUW International Dissertation Fellowship
• ACT Fellowship
• Moeller Fellowship
• Post-Comprehensive Research Award, University of Iowa
• Graduate College Summer Fellowship
• Murray Doctoral Summer Fellowship
• Easton Collaborative Research Grant
• Niehoff Center for Film and Media Studies Research Grant

Awards and Honors

• Teaching Associate, Center for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CITRL). 
• AEJMC Conference Top Paper Award (3rd Place)
• BEA Conference Top Paper Award (1st Place)
• Top Grant Reviewer, Graduate and Professional Student Government
• Judith S. Trent Graduate Student Research Award, University of Cincinnati
• Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), Africa for Her Champion

Recent publications

• Abdul Raheem, S. (2026). Framing Faith and Pleasure: Black Muslim Women Religious Health Influencers on Social Media. Journal of Media and Religion, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2026.2728991
• Elhosary, M., Issaka, B., Mohammed, I., Sissy, B., & Abdul Raheem, S. (2026). Communicating the Crisis or Misinforming the Public? Analyzing the AI-Generated Visual Rhetoric of the 2025 California Wildfires. International Journal of Communication, 20, 20. https://doi.org/10.65476/v7dgqs35 
• Sastry, S., Siegenthaler, B., Mukherjee, P., Abdul Raheem, S., & Basu, A. (2023). The (mis) uses of community: a critical analysis of public health communication for COVID-19 vaccination in the United States. Human Communication Research, 49(4), 396–407.
• Abdul Raheem, S., & Durham, M. (Under Review). Download a Period Tracker and Thank Me Later”: Examining trialability discourse influencing FemTech adoption among Ghanaian women. New Media & Society