Principal Investigator

Carissa A. Low, PhD

Google Scholar

• Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology), Psychology, & Bioinformatics, University of Pittsburgh
• Director, Mobile Sensing + Health Institute
• Member, Biobehavioral Oncology Program at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
• Core Faculty, Center for Behavioral Health and Smart Technology
• ​Adjunct Faculty, Human Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. Low received her PhD in clinical and health psychology from UCLA in 2008 and completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychiatry.  Her research focuses on interactions between behavior, biology, and patient-centered outcomes in the context of cancer. She is particularly interested in the use of mobile technology to monitor and change health behaviors and symptoms during cancer treatment.  Her work has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Mental Health, Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance, UPMC Aging Institute, and Sony Corporation.

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Postdoctoral Associate

Julio Vega, PhD

Julio Vega is a postdoctoral associate at the Mobile Sensing + Health Institute. He is interested in personalized methodologies to monitor chronic conditions that affect daily human behavior using mobile and wearable data. In the long term, his goal is to explore how we can enable patients to inform, amend, and evaluate their health tracking algorithms to improve disease self-management.

Previously, Julio received a PhD degree from the University of Manchester for investigating a personalized, unobtrusive and clinical-informed methodology to track fluctuations in Parkinson's symptoms. He also collaborated with the University of Oulu, Finland to improve Parkinson's medication adherence using a mobile game and with the University of Bristol to detect binge eating episodes using smartphone interactions.

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Program Manager

Krina Durica, MA

​Krina Durica received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and her Master of Arts degree in Applied Psychological Research from Penn State University. She is currently working towards a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Before joining Dr. Low’s lab, Krina worked as a Research Coordinator at Penn State Hershey managing social skills projects for adolescents and young adults with high-functioning autism.

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Research Coordinator

Michaela Danko, BA, BS

Michaela Danko received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences and Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining the BOT Lab, she worked as a Research Technician for a biorepository and in museum education. She spends her free time advocating for healthcare access, crafting, and walking dogs. She is excited to start the Accelerated BSN Program at the Pitt School of Nursing in May 2021.

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Senior Software Engineer

Abhineeth Reddy Kunta, MS

Abhineeth Reddy Kunta is a Senior Software Engineer with the Mobile Sensing + Health Institute. He is experienced in software development and specializes in building solutions using machine learning. Abhineeth likes exploring ways to leverage technology in advancing medicine and education. Previously he worked as a Computer Programmer at Georgia Department of Public Health. He has a master's degree in Computer Science from George Mason University.

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Data Scientist

Meng Li, MS

Meng Li received her Master of Science degree in Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh. She is interested in applying machine learning algorithms to the medical field.

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Research Assistants

Eddie Lasker

Eddie Lasker is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining the BOT Lab, Eddie worked as a research assistant in the Department of Psychiatry and as a peer mentor. In the future, Eddie hopes to pursue a Master’s in physician assistant studies.

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Computer and Information Science Interns

Nikunj Goel

Nikunj is a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh pursuing a Master of Science in Information Science. He earned his Bachelor of Technology degree in Information Technology in India. He is a Data Enthusiast and is passionate about finding the meaning out of raw data. In the long term, Nik's goal is to create a breakthrough in Data Science and Deep Learning.

Weiyu Huang

Weiyu is currently a student in the Master of Science in Information Science program at the University of Pittsburgh. He previously earned his Bachelor’s degree at Michigan State University, majoring in Computer Science with a Mathematics minor. Weiyu sees himself as a full-stack software developer and looks forward to gaining experience in the data science field.

Kirtiraj Khandekar

Kirtiraj is currently pursuing a Master of Science degree in Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh. He previously earned a Bachelor of Technology degree in Computer Science. He is a Machine Learning (ML) enthusiast and loves to experiment with its application in various fields and interpretation of ML algorithms. Kirtiraj is aspiring to build a career in Data Science and explaining what is happening in ML models behind the scenes.

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Lab Alumni

Kwesi Aguillera
​​Alberto Barrientos
​​Bles​sy Bellamy
​Hannah Bitzer
​Carolyn Brown
Samantha Buccina
​Lia Farrell
Umeka Ganjoo
Monica Henderson
Carly Jones
Echhit Joshi
Nicolas Leo
​Mariah Mascara
Erin McPherson
​Ruchika Moturi
Stephanie Nam
Alexa Rieger
​Lillian Smith
​Lindsay Snider
​Stephen Worrall
​Elynna Youm
​Jenny Zhang
Nika Zharichenko