Conducting research informed by expertise in technology development, human centered design and positive psychology.
ABOUT ME
If you asked me today what I do, my response would include the words research and scientist. This response is a full 180 from how I saw myself as a young adult. I started my higher education as a studio art major, and then a literal hit on the head changed everything. In my recovery, my curiosity about the innate resilience of the human body and spirit was sparked. Years later, after a bachelors and masters degree in human nutrition, my curiosity about biochemistry, physiology and human behavior is as strong as ever.
​
Through my work with academic and industry collaborators, I have developed a unique skill for merging my training in the biological sciences with hands on experience in technology development, human centered design and positive psychology. I inform product development with qualitative and quantitative data to optimize the experience of users and increase the impact of products and programs.
​
To nurture my own resilience, I cook meals from scratch, play in the fresh air and try to stay up on the boom in knowledge about the microbial world that is inside and all around us.
RESEARCH AND PROJECTS
gDitty website
GDITTY TO ZAMZEE
From an original idea to an evidence based tool to increase physical activity in tweens.
When HopeLab launched an initiative to increase physical activity in adolescents, I was given the challenge to find the best way to measure activity in this population. After I tested the tools available in 2006, it did not take long to see that there was serious room for innovation. Working closely with the talented engineer, Denis Bohm of Firefly Designs, the teen optimized 3-axis accelerometer, gDitty, was created and a patent application filed. The idea evolved over time from a data collection tool to an intervention, with the addition of a companion motivational website. After 7 pilot studies and several iterations of the device and online experience, gDitty was rebranded to Zamzee. The efficacy of the final program, was tested in  a 6-month randomized clinical trial with 448 teens and Zamzee with the motivational website was shown to increase physical activity 59% in adolescents!
Design sprint: apps for cancer patients
Design sprint - chronic disease mangement
Design sprint: apps for cancer patients
DESIGN WORKSHOPS
Creating custom sessions and tools to support innovation and inform product development.
After hands on experience working with consultants on human centered design informed product development, I started several years ago taking the lead. A research collaborator at a health tech startup, asked me one day if I could lead a design sprint. That request led to my first sprint and the discovery that I have a talent for developing and facilitating workshops. In addition to leading design sprints in the model outline by Google Ventures, I have developed custom experiences for health tech project teams, young adult cancer patients and international tech developers.
Returned workers interview - Palpa District, Nepal
Workshop teams head to the districts
Returned workers interview - Palpa District, Nepal
NEPAL MIGRATION LEARNING TOUR
A week of human centered design activities focused on how mobile technology can support migrant workers.
The international organization Humanity United, working on the prevention of human trafficking and slavery, was interested in leveraging mobile technology in Nepal. They recognized that mobile phones are widely used and are often the first thing a Nepali migrant worker in Qatar will purchase. I was invited to work with them to create an experience in Nepal with local technology developers that would seed meaningful ideation in a hack-a-thon they were planning in Kathmandu. The result was the Migration Learning Tour, a week long workshop attended by Nepali tech developers, representative of local NGOs and migrant worker advocates. I provided an orientation on human centered design, training on interviewing with empathy and methods for taking field notes. After teams traveled to districts around Nepal to interview stakeholders, I facilitated a day-long workshop to compile the observations of the teams into a cohesive story that could be shared at the hack-a-thon. There are currently two new products under development as a result of the Migration Learning Tour and hack-a-thon.
Results from the fMRI study
REMISSION
A video game for young adult cancer patients that shifts attitudes and improves medication adherence.
The game ReMission was the founding project of HopeLab and is the first video game to have been studied in a randomized clinical trial that was published in a peer reviewed medical journal. I was recruited to the HopeLab team to manage data collection for the international clinical trial studying ReMission. In this role, I developed protocols and managed the logistics for the collection of data from video game computer shuttles, medical records, pill adherence data with MEMS caps and the results of laboratory tests. I worked closely with the VP of Research at HopeLab to compile and analyze the study results and to prepare the manuscript for publication. After finding that ReMission did improve adherence to treatment, I worked on follow up studies to tease apart why it worked. The most interesting of these studies was the brain imaging study, where I worked with an engineer to develop a non-metal game controller that could be used in an fMRI machine and had the chance to have my own brain scanned as I tested the controller.
PUBLICATIONS AND PATENT
RANDOMIZED, CONTROLLED TRIAL OF A DIGITAL BEHAVIORAL THERAPEUTIC APPLICATION TO IMPROVE GLYCEMIC CONTROL IN ADULTS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES
December 2022
An evaluation of the efficacy and safety of a digital therapeutic application (app) delivering cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) designed to improve glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes.
COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY DELIVERED VIA DIGITAL MOBILE APPLICATION FOR THE TREATMENT OF TYPE 2 DIABETES: RATIONALE, DESIGN, AND BASELINE CHARACTERISTICS OF A RANDOMIZED, CONTROLLED TRIAL
August 2022
This publication describes the rationale and design of a randomized clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of a digital therapeutic providing CBT to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes.
EMERGENCE OF DIGITAL BIOMARKERS TO PREDICT AND MODIFY TREATMENT EFFICACY: MACHINE LEARNING STUDY
July 2019
Machine learning was used to transform data from a digital therapeutic into digital biomarkers that predicted treatment response in individual participants.
CHANGE IN GLYCEMIC CONTROL WITH USE OF A DIGITAL THERAPEUTIC IN ADULTS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES: COHORT STUDY
February 2018
In this 12-week study we investigated the effects of a novel digital therapeutic, FareWell, on hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and diabetes medication use.  Clinically meaningful reductions in HbA1c were observed with use of the FareWell digital therapeutic and greater glycemic control was observed with increasing app engagement.
DEVELOPMENT OF AN ACCELERATOR-LINKED ONLINE INTERVENTION SYSTEM TO PROMOTE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN ADOLESCENTS
May 2015
A validation study and a preliminary proof-of-concept experiment testing the impact of Zamzee, an accelerometer-linked online intervention system that combines proximal performance feedback and incentive motivation features to promote MVPA.
ACTIVITY MONITOR WITH INCENTIVE FEATURES
July 2008
The patent application for the original idea of the gDitty activity meter. The patent was not granted but the filing did serve as protection as the activity meter industry boomed just years later.
IMPROVEMENT IN CANCER-RELATED KNOWLEDGE FOLLOWING USE OF A PSYCHOEDUCATIONAL VIDEO GAME FOR ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS WITH CANCER
September 2007
This is a secondary publication to come out of the research on ReMission. The high impact article on the improvement in medication adherence were published in Pediatrics. I did not make author on that paper but I am listed in the thank you section.
SOY PROTEIN WITH ISOFLAVONES HAS FAVORABLE EFFECTS ON ENDOTHELIAL FUNCTION THAT ARE INDEPENDENT OF LIPID AND ANTIOXIDANT EFFECTS IN HEALTHY POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN
July 2003
This is the result of my master’s thesis at UC Davis. It was the first study that I developed and implemented. My co-authors were essential partners in the analysis and manuscript preparation phases.
