Assistant Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
Meeting people where they are — physically and emotionally — to support mental health through technology, research, and clinical care.
I am a child and adolescent psychiatrist and researcher at UCLA, where I work to improve the well-being of others by delivering mental health care through novel mediums. My passion lies in investigating mental health care delivery by non-professionals in non-traditional settings — such as schools and primary care clinics — and via digital technologies.
Having conducted research in the United States and abroad with people with limited access to mental health care, my goal is to meet people where they are, both physically and emotionally, to support mental health. Through this approach, I aim to create better interventions to prevent and treat mental illness and ultimately help each individual reach their full potential.
My current research leverages digital health technologies — including AI, mobile sensing devices, and electronic health records — to examine perinatal depression and its effects on caregiver-child interaction and child development.
My research focuses on the prevention and early intervention of mental illness in the perinatal period and early childhood, with a particular emphasis on leveraging digital technologies and AI to improve access and outcomes.
Developing and evaluating AI-powered tools for mental health, including the CAPE-II framework for auditing generative AI therapy chatbots used by youth. Investigating how digital technologies can bridge treatment gaps.
Using mobile sensing devices — audio recorders, Bluetooth sensors, and wearable wristbands — to assess maternal-child interaction quality and understand how postpartum depression affects child development during the first year of life.
Community-partnered research to deliver mental health care to underserved populations, including children on Medicaid in rural and underresourced areas. Examining how diversity, equity, and inclusion shape digital mental health tools.
International research on internet-based mental health interventions, from adapting depression prevention programs for Chinese adolescents to studying digital psychiatry tools in disaster response across Asia.
A selection of peer-reviewed publications. For a complete list, see PubMed or ResearchGate.
JMIR Mental Health
JMIR Formative Research
JMIR Infodemiology
Psychiatric Services
Behaviour Research and Therapy
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Academic Psychiatry
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Biological Psychiatry
Asian Journal of Psychiatry
Selected writing for general audiences on health policy, psychiatry, and public health.
Leading a program that provides mental health care to children and adolescents on Medicaid in the underserved Antelope Valley of Los Angeles County. Over 700 young people have been seen since 2022. The program also serves community college students, many of whom have never received mental health care. Recognized by the National Association of Counties.
Attending Physician at the UCLA Psychopharmacology Clinic and Telehub Clinic. Faculty Practice Psychiatrist and lecturer on mood disorders at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Clinical Advisor for Anise Health, a culturally-responsive mental health platform, and formerly for Little Otter, a pediatric mental health company. Bringing clinical expertise to digital health companies working to expand access to care.
Selected for the MEXA Accelerator program advancing generative AI research for mental health, in partnership with Neuromatch and funded by the Wellcome Trust. Developing AI tools to improve support for depression and anxiety.
I welcome inquiries about research collaborations, speaking opportunities, clinical partnerships, and mentorship.
UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
760 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90095