Presenting at the panel "Life in a Digital Environment" with Nick Bowman and Tony van Rooij at Virtual Ability's
2019 Mental Health Symposium
I’m a public mental health researcher from Johns Hopkins with extra training and certification in Informatics, machine learning, gamification, and Peer Mentoring.
I’ve been studying the role of commercial video games in mental health for more than five years and have spoken at international academic conferences, gaming conventions, and once even at a Disability-Advocacy Symposium in Second Life.
My work has been covered by TIME, WIRED, Vox, Engadget, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other news outlets. I have experience in many types of health research-qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, and evaluation-specific methods, so I can use whatever approach works best to answer research questions.
I love to talk about the intersection between scientific evidence and public health–how do we make rational decisions about health issues in a way that protects and promotes population health when the evidence may not be so great?
I also draw on my personal experience as a mental health service user (AKA psychiatric consumer) and gamer to promote truly collaborative research with patients and the gaming community.
I’m an avid hiker and cyclist, I love traveling, and I love spending time with my husband and three wonderful kids.
My posts on this site are made in a personal capacity and are independent of my affiliation with Johns Hopkins University.