Our Team

Sabine Wilhelm, PhD, is a Professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Chief of Psychology as well as Director of the Center for OCD and Related Disorders (CORD) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She is also the Director of the Center for Digital Mental Health in Psychiatry at MGH. Dr. Wilhelm is recognized as a leading researcher in obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. Her recent research focuses on the use of cutting-edge technology to improve and personalize mental health care for a range of mental health concerns. Dr. Wilhelm has published 342 papers and chapters, as well as nine books. She has also given around 300 talks on these subjects, locally, nationally, and internationally. Dr. Wilhelm has mentored more than 50 junior investigators in the field. She is currently working on the development and testing of smartphone-based treatments for OCD, depression, and body dysmorphic disorder. Her ultimate goal is to use technology-based interventions to enhance global access to high-quality mental health interventions.

Keywords: Digital therapeutics; Smartphone mental health apps;  Virtual reality

Jennifer L. Greenberg is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and a psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Greenberg’s research has focused on developing and testing treatments for obsessive compulsive and related disorders and optimizing treatment by understanding how and for whom treatments work. More recently, Dr. Greenberg has focused on the use of novel digital solutions to enhance access to effective mental health care. She is project director and co-investigator on a series of industry collaborations to develop and test CBT smartphone apps to treat a broad range of mental health conditions.

Hilary Weingarden is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and a psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Weingarden conducts research focused on leveraging technology to enhance assessment and treatment of mental illness. She is principal investigator of an NIMH-funded award using smartphone sensor data to predict changes in emotions and acute risk for suicidal thoughts and substance use in a high-risk psychiatric sample. She has served as project director and co-investigator on a series of industry collaborations to develop cognitive behavioral therapy smartphone apps to treat mental health conditions.

Keywords: Smartphone-delivered CBT; Ecological momentary assessment; Sensor-based passive assessment

Emily Bernstein’s research focuses on developing alternative and more scalable approaches for the prevention and treatment of anxiety disorders, depression, and related concerns, including exploring exercise and other lifestyle interventions as well as more efficient cognitive behavioral therapies. She believes that leveraging digital tools, including smartphones and wearable devices, is essential to bringing evidence-based treatments to more people. Dr. Bernstein is also interested in using technology to better understand mechanisms of treatment effects in order to optimize these approaches.

Keywords: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Physical Activity; Skills Use

Amanda Baker’s lab is using EMA and wearable sensors to establish the intra-individual role of psychophysiological and cognitive-behavioral mechanisms in the maintenance of Panic Disorder. They are also using these technologies during exposures in PTSD to map patients’ implementation of therapeutic skills in daily life and their clinical impact.

Abigail Batchelder is currently leading a pilot randomized control trial pairing a virtually delivered psycho-behavioral intervention with incentivized directly observed antiretroviral therapy via the emocha app for people who inject drugs living with HIV. Dr. Batchelder is also conducting a text-enhanced therapy intervention to reduce internalized stigma and shame for men who have sex with men living with HIV and substance use disorders who are sub-optimally engaged in HIV care. Additionally, she is completing a multimodal measurement study to assess stigma-related emotions using machine learning to inform future assessment and intervention strategies.

In Dr. Camprodon’s lab, they use digital biomarkers, including passive and active smart phone, wearables, voice and facial analysis and assessments “in the wild” to characterize neuropsychiatric populations, and in particular support the development of individualized neuromodulation therapies.

Kyle Faust is currently working to acquire funding to develop an app to treat PTSD. His hope would be to eventually tailor treatments for specific patient populations and incorporate treatment for other co-morbid diagnoses.

Lauren Fisher is conducting an NIH-funded study of telehealth-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for depression that has been adapted for individuals with a history of traumatic brain injury. The intervention incorporates continuous use of a Fitbit activity tracker. Dr. Fisher is also involved in another study that aims to integrate daily Fitbit activity tracking into traditional cognitive behavioral therapy for depression in order to optimize treatment outcomes.

Richard Fletcher develops mobile apps, machine learning algorithms, and wearable sensors to monitor and predict affect and behavior. Dr. Fletcher currently works with the MGH Recovery Research Institute to develop tools to monitor and modulate affect and stress in people recovering from addiction. He also holds an academic appointment at MIT as are search scientist, building sensors and algorithms for health diagnostics.

Dr. Brynn Huguenel’s research focuses on developing and testing smartphone interventions for mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression Dr. Huguenel has contributed to randomized control trials examining the effectiveness of smartphone apps that deliver cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness skills in improving mental health. She is also interested in understanding how user engagement with digital interventions can be best optimized and supported.

Dr. Adam Jaroszewski’s work focuses on designing and testing scalable digital interventions for reducing suicidal thoughts and behavior. This includes automated text-based risk detection, nudge-style interventions that increase help seeking during mental health crises, and bibliotherapy to increase perceived connectedness and hope.

Dr. Mischoulon’s work focuses on wearables for characterizing treatment response, interventions for caretakers of patients with dementia, and suicide prediction.

Dr. Perez-Lougee focuses on developing and testing a mobile app to improve survivorship care among colorectal cancer survivors.

Dr. Smoller and his team’s research mission is to integrate research and clinical practice to enable more accurate risk prediction, targeted prevention, precise diagnosis and effective treatments for psychiatric disorders.

Dr. Surman’s research is focused on personalized remote psychopharmacology monitoring using digital technology

Dr. Louisa Sylvia recently completed two RCTs examining the comparative effectiveness of four online, psychosocial interventions (that we developed) to increase exercise and improve overall wellness, respectively. She is currently developing a stepped-care program with her colleagues for bipolar disorder which leverages a learning healthcare approach and digital mental health interventions. Dr. Sylvia has three ongoing studies to (1) examine a hybrid exercise program for older adults leveraging a digital health platform, (2) compare synchronous, virtual yoga to hybrid behavioral activation for depression, and (3) develop virtual, hyrbid, and in-person resilience programing for healthcare workers at community mental health centers.

Rachel Vanderkruik is currently conducting a pilot test of an app called “The Guardians” (developed by colleagues at the MIT Media Lab) among pregnant women with elevated depressive symptoms. The Guardians is grounded in Behavioral Activation (BA) principles and leverages gamification features to encourage user engagement. Her previous digital mental health research experience has included, 1) a perinatal depression screening tool that uses smartphone technology, 2) an online mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) intervention for depression, and 3) internet-based CBT (i-CBT) for depression and anxiety.

Susanne Hoeppner is involved with two lines of mHealth research that deal with app treatment efficacy and app user engagement. First, she works with Dr. Bettina Hoeppner’s team on the development of an app-based smoking cessation treatment that uses a positive psychology approachand on its adaptation to underserved sub-populations of people who smoke. Second, Dr. Hoeppner works with Dr. Sabine Wilhelm’s team on testing app-based psychological treatments for mental health disorders such as body dysmorphic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and major depression. Both lines of research show promise for making evidence-based treatment more accessible.

Dalton is a Data Manager and Analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital and is currently involved in smartphone app research aimed at improving mental health for people with OCD, BDD, and depression. His work focuses on database building and management for clinical research studies, including those involving digital mental health interventions. He is passionate about ensuring data quality and data integrity in clinical trial research.