Research

Technology has become essential to almost every aspect of our daily lives. I believe that the growing presence and use of technology have unprecedented potential to improve the quality of our lives by aiding and augmenting human capabilities within the areas of health and wellbeing. My research focuses on the design and the use of technologies to address ever-pressing challenges in healthcare – including expanding access to care while maintaining usability and engagement. To do so, I adopt a human-centered approach to design novel, cutting-edge health technologies and to understand their broader impact on health outcomes. My past research includes the design and deployment of health technologies in different contexts of healthcare, including stroke rehabilitation, mental health self-report, and arrhythmia detection. My current research at Penn State aims to address the growing prevalence of mental health treatment gap by delivering mental health interventions via a voice interface-based conversational agent to expand access to tele- and virtual mental health care options, and promote mental health education and outreach.