Center for Digital Mental Health

Leveraging digital and AI-enabled tools 

to prevent, assess, and treat mental illness more effectively and equitably

Leveraging digital and AI-enabled tools 

to prevent, assess, and treat mental illness more effectively and equitably

About the Center

The Center for Digital Mental Health advances the science and practice of digital and AI-enabled mental health care through rigorous research, responsible innovation, and broad dissemination. 

Our work spans the full translational pipeline, from development and validation to clinical implementation, ensuring that emerging technologies are safe, effective, ethical, and clinically meaningful. Based within the Mass General Brigham Department of Psychiatry, the center was founded in 2019 and is directed by Sabine Wilhelm, PhD.  The Center has grown from a think tank into a multidisciplinary community of more than 125 mental health scientists and providers working to develop scalable, digital solutions that reach more people, faster, and with greater clinical precision.

Our Mission

Inspired by the potential of digital technologies and artificial intelligence to address the growing crisis in mental health care, the Center for Digital Mental Health, founded and directed by Sabine Wilhelm, PhD, is dedicated to advancing evidence-based digital and AI-enabled solutions to prevent, assess, and treat mental illness and promote mental health.  

We focus on:

  • AI-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION
    We develop and rigorously validate AI-based modules using passive sensor data from smartphones and wearables, ecological momentary assessment, and other real-world data streams.  These approaches allow us to improve assessment, risk prediction, and personalization of mental health care across diverse populations and settings. 
  • DIGITAL AND AI-ENABLED TOOLS FOR PATIENTS AND CLINICIANS
    Center members design, build, and test patient- and clinician-facing smartphone applications and AI-enabled tools that support mental health, wellbeing, and clinical care.  These tools are firmly grounded in empirical evidence, clinical expertise, and established practice guidelines.  Our goal is to enhance equity, real-world clinical impact, and clinical judgement, not replace it, while improving accuracy, efficiency, and quality of care.  All tools are developed in close collaboration with patients, clinicians, and affected communities to ensure they reflect real needs and lived experience.
  • AI-SUPPORTED CLINICAL TOOLS
    We create and evaluate AI-supported clinical decision support systems that are firmly grounded in empirical evidence, clinical expertise, and established practice guidelines.  Our goal is to enhance, not replace, clinical judgment while improving accuracy, efficiency, and quality of care.
  • ETHICAL, TRANSPARENT, AND RESPONSIBLE AI
    A core pillar of our work is advancing the safe, ethical, unbiased, transparent, and responsible use of AI in mental health.  Center members regularly publish and present on risks and safeguards related to AI deployment in clinical and research settings.  The Center also actively engages with policymakers and regulatory bodies (e.g., FDA and NIMH), and professional organizations to help establish guidelines and standards for digital and AI-enabled tools in clinical care.
  • WORKFORCE TRAINING
    We provide education and training on AI and digital mental health for clinicians, researchers, and trainees.  These efforts are designed to promote responsible adoption of technology, reduce administrative burden, and build a workforce equipped to evaluate, implement, and advance digital tools responsibly.  Click here to learn more about our Center’s training mission.  

Additionally, we are committed to engaging in ongoing self-evaluation in order to meaningfully align our actions with our mission.  

Giving

Our work is supported by investigator-initiated industry sponsorships, federal (NIH) and foundation grants, and philanthropy.

Philanthropic support fuels the Center’s leadership in AI‑driven research, training, and implementation that expand access, reduce disparities, and transform mental health care. Your gift directly enables work that would otherwise go unfunded, from early‑stage AI pilot studies to training the next generation of digital mental health researchers and clinicians.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SUPPORTING OUR CENTER

Funding

Dr. Jenna Sung awarded the 2025 IOCDF Jenike Young Investigator Award

Jenna Sung, PhD, was awarded the 2025 International OCD Foundation Jenike Young Investigator Award for her study, “A Web-Based SSI to Reduce Caregiver Distress and Accommodation in Financially Disadvantaged Parents of Youth with OCD: Project EMPOWER.”

Awards

Dr. Geneva Jonathan winner of the ISRII Early Career Researcher Award

Geneva Jonathan, PhD was named the 2025 Early Career Researcher Award winner by the International Society for Research on Internet Interventions (ISRII). ISRII recognizes outstanding leaders, innovators, and rising stars in the field of digital health and behavior change interventions who are making a profound impact on science, technology, and global health equity.

Funding

Dr. Anushka Patel awarded early career development award by the NIH/NIMH

Anushka Patel, PhD received her NIH K23 funding for her project “Designing and Evaluating a Single-Session Transdiagnostic Intervention for Emotion Regulation with Follow-Up mHealth Support for Domestic Violence Survivors.”

Awards

Dr. Geneva Jonathan receives the Francis C. Sumner Excellence Award from ABCT

Dr. Geneva Jonathan received the Francis C. Sumner Excellence Award 2025, which was presented at the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) annual conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana, in November 2025.

Funding

Dr. Anushka Patel receives the CSRP Pilot Grant Award

Anushka Patel, PhD received funding for her project “The Tiger Team: A Novel Service Delivery Approach for Rapid Suicide Assessment and Response in Primary Care" by the Center for Suicide Research and Prevention.

In the News

NYT Op-ed "Your Chatbot Isn’t a Therapist"

Members of our team, Drs. Divya Saini and Natasha Bailen, are the authors of a recent New York Times opinion piece addressing the growing role of artificial intelligence and chatbots in mental health care. The article examines the clinical, ethical, and human implications of integrating AI‑powered tools into mental health treatment, at a time of rapidly increasing public interest. It highlights the need for evidence‑based approaches, clinician oversight, and patient protections as technological innovation continues to shape the future of care.

Publications

"Disseminating cognitive-behavioral therapy for body dysmorphic disorder: Evaluating the efficacy of online provider training"

Published paper on our center's work testing our Body Dysmorphic Disorder course produced in collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Psychiatry Academy.

Funding

Dr. Geneva Jonathan awarded the Zinberg Fellowship in Addiction Medicine

Dr. Geneva Jonathan was selected as the 2026 recipient of the Zinberg Fellowship in Addiction Medicine by Harvard Medical School’s Psychiatry Research Fellowship Awards.

Highlights | In the News

Adam Jaroszewski, PhD, named Assistant Director of the Center for Digital Mental Health
Site Design & Development Alchemy + Aim