Principal Investigator

Carissa A. Low, PhD

Google Scholar
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.

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.

Research Manager & Designer

Leeann Chen, MPS

Leeann Chen received her master's in Information Science from Cornell University. Previously she worked as a User Experience Designer at IQVIA building virtual clinical trials. Leeann is particularly interested in how digital learning systems for emotional intelligence can mitigate the impact of trauma on development.

Research Coordinator

Annie Bartel, BS

Annie Bartel received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biopsychology with a minor in Chemistry from Juniata College. She has previously worked on research involving mental health care in rural populations. Annie is interested in working on better practices for patient care, particularly accessibility.

Software Engineer

Weiyu Huang, MS

Weiyu received his Master’s in Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Michigan State University. Weiyu is interested in software development and the data visualization field.​

Data Scientist

Jennifer Fedor, MS

Jennifer received a Master of Science degree in Biostatistics with a concentration in Health Data Science from the University of Pittsburgh. She is interested in applying novel statistical methods and machine learning to predict health outcomes.

Research Assistants

Hersh Parikh

Hersh is a sophomore year at the University of Pittsburgh pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Hersh is majoring in computational biology and is on the pre-med track. Before joining the BOT lab Hersh has had patient interaction experience through volunteering at his local hospital and has had python programing experience through his undergraduate classes.

Akila Sanjay

Akila is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in psychology on the pre-med track. Prior to joining the BOT lab, Akila has had experience conducting women’s health research with the Department of Veterans Affairs and UMass Chan Medical School.

Medical Students/Residents

Svea Cheng, BA

Svea Cheng received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Molecular & Cell Biology from Cornell University in 2020. She is currently pursuing a medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She previously worked in a basic science lab exploring the molecular mechanisms driving cancer metastasis. She also worked at an epilepsy clinic where she studied ways to improve patient mental health outcomes and quality of life. She is excited to learn more about how to promote holistic well-being and provide compassionate care for cancer patients.

Elizabeth Kairis, BS

Liz Kairis received her Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Genetics from Ohio State University in 2020. She is currently pursuing a medical degree from Pitt Med.  She has previously worked in basic science labs related to HIV and oncology, and she is excited to learn more about oncology research from the clinical perspective.

David Lazris, MD

David grew up in Columbia, MD before obtaining a History major at Brown University. He then went on to Emory School of Medicine and currently is part of the Internal Medicine Residency at UPMC, in the Global Health and Underserved Track. He is hoping to complete a fellowship in oncology/ hematology and is interested in palliative medicine, underserved medicine, and global health.

Sean McClaine, BS

Sean McClaine received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University in 2020. He is currently pursuing a medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine. He has previously worked on the design and testing of a vibrating wearable device that aimed to normalize unstable breathing patterns in preterm infants.

Computer and Information Science Interns

Qichang Li, BEng

Qichang is currently a Master’s student in the department of Computer Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He gained his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Software Engineering at the Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications. He then worked at three companies over six years. Qichang has good experiences in Android development and is seeking more opportunities in software development.

Qingyang Li, BS

 Qingyang is currently a Master’s student in the department of Computer Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science at the Michigan State University. Qingyang has good experiences in web application development and is seeking more opportunities in data science.

Benjamin Panny, BS, BA

Ben is a Master's student in the department of Biostatistics at the University of Pittsburgh with previous experience working in psychiatric clinical research. He is broadly interested in machine learning operations.

Lab Alumni

Kwesi Aguillera
​​Alberto Barrientos
​​Bles​sy Bellamy
​Hannah Bitzer
​Carolyn Brown
Samantha Buccina
Andrew Chuang
​Michaela Danko
​Lia Farrell
​Youyang Feng
Umeka Ganjoo
Nikunj Goel
​Sonal Gupta
Monica Henderson
Carly Jones
Echhit Joshi
Nikita Kalathur
​Kirtiraj Khandekar
​Abhineeth Reddy Kunta
​Eddie Lasker
Nicolas Leo
​Meng Li
Grace Lyall
​Mariah Mascara
Erin McPherson
​Ruchika Moturi
Stephanie Nam
​Kailee O'Connor
Alexa Rieger
​Lillian Smith
​Lindsay Snider
​Julio Vega
Abhishek Verma
​Stephen Worrall
​Elynna Youm
​Jenny Zhang
Nika Zharichenko
​Zixuan Zhu
Anthony Zygmunt

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