Virtual Seminar Series

Theresa Nguyen

Mental Health America

November 6, 2025, 2 PM UTC

Title: Filling System of Care Gaps Through Digital Education, Skill Building, and Linkage to Care

Abstract: In this session, Theresa Nguyen, Mental Health America’s Chief Research Officer, will share about her organization’s efforts to promote mental health, well-being, and condition prevention in the US and beyond, including how they leverage AI in this important work. This will be followed by a fireside chat with host Dr. Munmun De Choudhury, Professor at Georgia Tech and expert on computational social science for personal and societal well-being. The conversation will discuss the complexities of filling gaps in the system of care for mental health through strategies such as digital education, skill building, and strengthening linkage to care.

As MHA’s Chief Research Officer, Theresa Nguyen (she/her) leads MHA’s Center for Research and Innovation. In this role, Theresa works to improve access to mental health care through data and digital-based innovations. Theresa oversees MHA’s National Screening and Prevention Program and leads MHA’s research that explores the integration of peers into mental health care, the use of technology to support people in the earliest stages of recovery, and how large-scale data provides insight into gaps in support systems across the country. As a licensed clinical social worker, her 20 years of experience has focused on working with children and adults with serious mental illness, those experiencing homelessness, dual diagnosis treatment, and early intervention of psychosis. As an advocate, she works to build a consumer-based mental health workforce, improve access to treatment through community-based and recovery-oriented mental health programs, and address the needs of underserved communities. She is an adjunct professor in California and has taught courses covering mental health recovery, psychosocial rehabilitation, and social welfare policy. Before joining MHA National, Theresa worked at MHALA (Los Angeles) and MHAOC (Orange County, California).

Dr. Hannah van Kolfschooten

Amsterdam Law School, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

October 23, 2025, 2 PM UTC

Title: Beyond the Individual: Rethinking Risk in AI Therapy Chatbots

Abstract: AI therapy chatbots are transforming how mental health care is delivered, both within clinical settings and directly to consumers. They promise convenience, scalability, and lower barriers to care, but their rapid spread also exposes significant gaps in the governance of digital mental health. Most oversight today focuses narrowly on individual risks such as unsafe advice or privacy breaches. Yet the real challenge extends further: these tools can influence how therapy is defined, how care is distributed, and how public trust in mental health systems is built.

This webinar explores AI therapy chatbots through a human rights lens, highlighting three levels of risk: individual, collective, and societal. Drawing on real-world cases and regulatory developments such as the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, it argues that risk assessment must move beyond technical safety to include fairness, accountability, and human rights.

Dr. Hannah van Kolfschooten (Ph.D, LL.M.) is a researcher and lecturer at the Amsterdam Law School, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She studies the intersection of law, health and technology. She obtained a Ph.D. in Law (dr. iur.) on the topic of EU regulation of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and the consequences for patients’ rights protection (University of Amsterdam, 2025). She regularly publishes on this topic in peer-reviewed journals, professional journals, and op-ed outlets. She teaches AI Law and Health Law and frequently gives public presentations and guest lectures on law, ethics, and policy of technology in healthcare. She was a visiting researcher in-residence at Harvard Law School, University of Verona, and Fondation Brocher. She is an independent legal consultant on AI policy and regulation for non-profit organisation Health Action International. She occasionally shares her expertise with governments, non-profits, and health organisations. She is an advisor to the World Health Organization in the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health (TAG-AI).

Dr. Aneesha Singh

University College London Interaction Centre, UK

October 16, 2025, 2 PM UTC

Title: The Good Researcher? Discussions on HCI+Health Futures, Partnering Across Diversity and Positionality

Abstract: This fireside chat with Aneesha Singh, Professor of HCI and Digital Health at the UCL Interaction Centre (UCLIC), invites reflection on what it means to be a “good researcher” in the evolving landscape of Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) and Health. Aneesha will draw on her interdisciplinary work across health and wellbeing for minoritised populations, chronic conditions, ageing, sexual and mental health to share how multiple standpoints and diverse stakeholders can shape research directions and insights. The discussion will also consider the future of health research in HCI, and how such partnerships can inform more equitable and impactful digital health futures.

Dr. Aneesha Singh is a Professor of HCI and Digital Health at the UCL Interaction Centre (UCLIC), where she also serves as Programme Director of the MSc in HCI. Her research focuses on the design, adoption, and use of health and well-being technologies in everyday and clinical contexts, with particular attention to sensitive or stigmatised conditions and underserved communities. Her research includes women’s health, chronic and long-term conditions, ageing, self-identity, and sexual and mental health. She has published widely in leading HCI and digital health venues and has contributed to community service as a former Subcommittee Chair for the CHI Health track and as a convenor of the Health and HCI group behind the Interactive Health Conference. She received a PhD in HCI from UCL and an MSc in Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems from the University of Sussex, and previously worked in industry as a consultant, software developer, and technical journalist.

Dr. Tanmoy Chakraborty

Department of Electrical Engineering and School of AI, IIT Delhi, India

October 9, 2025, 2 PM UTC

Title: Towards Enhanced Conversational Dynamics for Effective Virtual Therapist-Assistive Counseling

Abstract: The increasing demand for digital healthcare, coupled with current infrastructure limitations, requires digital therapeutic interventions. My talk will focus on the design and implementation of Virtual Mental Health Assistants modules that serve as therapist-assistive mechanisms to automate their complex work cycle. We work on building novel LLM-based methods for dialogue understanding, summarization, causation and generation, and our research captures the intricacies of therapeutic communication while incorporating signs into human behavior analysis. In support of this, we also develop novel datasets, tools and techniques (some of which have gone through rigorous POC) in collaboration with professional therapists and counselors.

Dr. Tanmoy Chakraborty is a Rajiv Khemani Young Faculty Chair Professor in AI and an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering and the School of AI at IIT Delhi. He leads the Laboratory for Computational Social Systems (LCS2), a research group that primarily focuses on building economical, adaptable and interpretable language models and applying them specifically to two areas -- mental health counselling and cyber-informatics. He served as the DAAD visiting professor at MPI Saarbrucken, PECFAR visiting professor at TU Munich and ELISE visiting professor at TU Darmstadt. Tanmoy has received numerous recognitions, including the Humboldt Fellowship, Ramanujan Fellowship, ACL '23 Outstanding Paper Award, IJCAI'23 AI for Good Award, and several faculty awards from industries like Google, LinkedIn, JP Morgan, and Adobe. He has authored two textbooks -- "Social Network Analysis" and "Introduction to Large Language Models". Tanmoy earned his PhD from IIT Kharagpur in 2015 as a Google PhD Scholar. He is currently serving as the PC Chair of EMNLP'25 and The WebConf (Web4Good Track) and local chair of AACL'25. More details may be found at tanmoychak.com.

Dr. Alejandra Gómez Ortega

Stockholm University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

October 2, 2025, 2pm UTC

Title: Design Research with Intimate Data: Understanding, Disclosure, and Consent

Abstract: Alejandra Gómez Ortega is a Digital Futures Postdoctoral Fellow. Her research applies critical and feminist perspectives to investigate how we interact with and encounter our data and their algorithmic derivatives. She explores individual experiences interacting with and sharing sensitive and intimate data, privacy perceptions and considerations around data, and data themselves. Alejandra will discuss her experience using Research through Design and participatory design to critique and envision alternative ways for people to interact with their data and for researchers to access and apply these data in their processes.

Dr. Alejandra Gómez Ortega is a Design and Human-Computer Interaction researcher. She is currently a Digital Futures Postdoctoral Fellow at Stockholm University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. She holds a PhD in Industrial Design Engineering from the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands. Her research investigates individual experiences interacting with and sharing intimate data, privacy perceptions and considerations around data, and data themselves through playful and creative approaches. Alejandra has applied various methods and approaches in her design research journey, including Participatory Design and Research through Design. Alejandra enjoys designing, developing, deploying, and exhibiting provocative artifacts and digital prototypes that enable individuals and communities to experience a specific situation as a starting point for reflection and discussion.

Dr. Ravi Karkar and Dr. Elena Agapie

University of Massachusetts Amherst and University of California Irvine, USA

September 25, 2025, 2pm UTC

Title: Strengthening the Impact of Data-driven Tools for Health through Cross-sector Collaborations

Abstract: In this conversation with health informatics researchers Ravi Karkar and Elena Agapie, we will hear insights from their research on using data-driven approaches such as personal tracking and LLMs to support self-experimentation, medical care, and caregiving. We will discuss how data-driven tools can better align with people's lived experiences of illness and care in health conditions like Alzheimer's, mental health, and metabolic syndrome in the United States context. In discussing this work, we will reflect on navigating collaborations between computing, health-related fields, and clinical providers. We will highlight and invite discussion on strategies for translating across different methods, vocabulary, and other borders towards bridging research and practice.

Dr. Ravi Karkar is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He co-directs the Health Tech for the People initiative. His research uses human-centered approaches to develop tools that enable people to collect, interact with, and use novel health data. Through these new health data experiences, he aims to empower individuals to actively engage with their personal health data, fostering informed self-advocacy and evidence-driven wellness decisions. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award. He received his PhD in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Washington.

Dr. Elena Agapie is an Assistant Professor in Informatics at University of California, Irvine. She researches, designs, and builds technologies through a human-centered approach, with aims of empowering people to engage in healthy behaviors and supporting new ways of delivering health interventions. Her research has been generously funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and UC Irvine internal grants. She received her PhD in Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington.

Dr. Suhani Jalota and Zeel Mehta

Myna Mahila, India

September 18, 2025, 2pm UTC

Title: The Role of LLMs in Reproductive Health: Insights from Myna Mahila Foundation

Abstract: This fireside chat with Myna Mahila Foundation will reflect on how large language models (LLMs) are being leveraged in community health settings globally. We will discuss opportunities, risks, and practical applications of AI-driven health communication through the lens of Myna Bolo, a WhatsApp chatbot that supports question-answering on sexual and reproductive health in an underserved community in Mumbai, India. By bringing together multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder perspectives—from academia, design, and implementation—we hope to foster rich and critical discussion, and co-create a path forward for the thoughtful use of LLMs on sensitive and culturally-embedded health topics.

Dr. Suhani Jalota is an applied microeconomist and entrepreneur focused on labor markets, health access, and AI adoption in emerging economies. She is a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where her field experiments examine barriers to workforce participation and health system access, and test AI-enabled interventions to raise productivity at scale. She founded and leads Stanford’s Future of Work for Women Initiative, a cross-sector initiative with the Hoover Institution to build evidence and partnerships to accelerate workforce entry and firm productivity, with a long-run goal of moving tens of millions into paid work and the digital economy by 2040. Jalota founded the Myna Mahila Foundation, a research-driven social enterprise (founded 2015) that now reaches 1.5 million women with a team of 70 in India; Myna Research, which runs field experiments in urban slums; and Rani Work, a platform enabling smartphone-based digital employment. She is a Forbes Asia Under 30 recipient, Top 33 She Shapes AI Awardee, Asia 21 Leader, Young Achiever’s Mother Teresa Memorial Awardee, Queen’s Young Leader, and named to the top 50 under 50 most powerful women by India Today. She holds a BS from Duke and a PhD and MBA from Stanford as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar.

Zeel Mehta is a product strategist and technologist specializing in AI applications for reproductive health and social impact at scale. As Product Manager at Myna Mahila Foundation, she architected and deployed an LLM-powered conversational platform that has facilitated over 20,000 health queries for 3,500+ women in underserved communities, creating new pathways for reproductive health advocacy and access. Her product leadership spans enterprise technology and social impact, having previously scaled a B2B platform. She brings cross-sector expertise from enterprise advertising campaigns for global brands including Lenovo and Smirnoff to mental health technology startups. Her approach bridges technical architecture with implementation science, ensuring AI solutions deliver measurable impact for vulnerable populations. She specializes in translating complex social challenges into scalable technological interventions. Her work focuses on the intersection of AI, impact, and community-driven product development in emerging market contexts.

Dr. Ananya Joshi

Psychiatry & Behavioral Science, Johns Hopkins University, USA

September 4, 2025, 2pm UTC

Title: Data Overwhelm: Monitoring Digital Health Informatics Data for Critical Events

Abstract: Large volumes of health data are collected every day with the hope that these measurements can capture changes in health dynamics and serve as an early warning system (e.g. for hospitalization). However, the sheer volume of data makes these events more difficult to detect. We can frame this problem as a new AI task called multi-stream outlier ranking. I’ll describe methods for this task that work with the imperfect statistical properties of real-world healthcare data and how these methods have been deployed as part of a human expert-in-the-loop AI system for public health respiratory-illnesses. In our most recent evaluations, experts detected health-related events 288x more efficiently than without this system. As a result, thousands of public health data issues have identified across the United States.

I’ll share our best-practices and lessons learned in setting up this system, and cover new research efforts to reduce data overwhelm in the mental health x AI space, specifically for clinicians working on mood disorders like depression or bipolar disorder.

Dr. Ananya Joshi is an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry & Behavioral Science and Computer Science. Her group's research develops computational and Generative AI methods and systems for diagnosing, treating, and monitoring mood disorders. She previously received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, and her B.S.E. in Computer Science from Princeton University.

Town hall

August 28, 2025, 2pm UTC

A town hall for introductions, sharing the goals of the RIC, and getting input on building the community!

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