About Me
I am an associate professor with tenure in the Department of Implementation Science at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. I also hold an affiliate professor position in the Department of Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington.
At Wake Forest University, I lead the Access to Behavioral Lab for All (ABHA) Laboratory. Our focus is on ideating, developing and testing digital behavioral health interventions for underserved populations, including individuals experiencing persistent mental health symptoms, addiction or chronic pain. The ABHA Laboratory specializes in designing digital tools to foster behavioral health and psychological resilience, rigorously evaluating them and exploring barriers and facilitators of digital health equity.
Over the years, I’ve contributed to the study and development of several digital interventions, such as Mindful Daily, SmartQuit, TummyTrials, Eyes Free Yoga, Mindful Powers and Pain Tracker Self-Management. I created Learn to Quit, the first NIH-funded digital therapeutic designed to deliver smoking cessation treatment for individuals with serious mental illnesses. This application won the Gold W3 Award in 2016 from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts and the Silver Davey International Award in 2016 for best wellness and health application. My work has been featured in FastCompany, The Drum, Seattle K5 News and Psychiatric News.
I’ve served as an ad-hoc reviewer for more than 25 scientific journals and 9 granting institutions, and I am currently a standing member of a study section for the NIH’s Center for Scientific Review.
I studied psychology at the Universitat de Barcelona and received my doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. My residency and post-doctoral training were completed at the University of Washington. Prior to my arrival to Wake Forest University, I was an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University.