A Crowd-Powered Technological Treatment for Depression and Anxiety

Dr. Mohr is the Director of Northwestern University’s Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies (CBITs) and a tenured professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine. CBITs, which was founded in 2011, is a unique center in the United States, focused on the development, evaluation and implementation of technologies, including computer, mobile, and sensors, aimed at changing behavior in support of health, mental health, function, quality of life, and wellness. His work, which has been continuously funded by the NIMH for more than two decades, lies at the intersection of behavioral science, technology, and clinical intervention research, and is focused on developing and evaluating interventions that harness Internet and wireless technologies to promote health. This work in development includes the design, development and implementation of mobile and computer-based treatments for depression and anxiety in healthcare settings as well as the development of a context sensing mobile application that harnesses embedded mobile phone sensor data to identify behavioral phenotypes related to depression and mental health. CBITs currently includes 4 faculty members, a large research group, and a T32-funded fellowship program. His work has resulted in more than 180 publications in peer-reviewed journals that have been cited over 9,000 times by authors from 90 countries, according to Scopus (more than 16,000 citations by Google Scholar). Dr. Mohr served as the primary mentor on Dr. Schueller’s NIMH K08 award and will collaborate with him through this R34. They have co-authored 26 peer-reviewed publications together and have a strong history of combined success. In this role, Dr. Mohr will offer expertise on development and evaluation of technology-based treatments for depression and anxiety and clinical trial design.