Read article – Nicholas Jacobson, an associate professor of biomedical data science and psychiatry, and Michael Heinz, an assistant professor of psychiatry, are featured in an article about Therabot. “Therabot is not limited to an office and can go anywhere a patient goes,” Heinz said. “It was available around the clock for challenges that arose in daily life and could walk users through strategies to handle them in real time. But the feature that allows AI to be so effective is also what confers its risk — patients can say anything to it, and it can say anything back.”
Articles by: Geisel Communications
Angelo E. Volandes, MD, MPH, Appointed Second Anna Gundlach Huber Professor in Medicine
The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth has named Angelo E. Volandes, MD, MPH, as the second Anna Gundlach Huber Professor in Medicine. Volandes, a professor of medicine at Geisel, clinician-investigator, and nationally recognized expert in patient-centered decision-making at Dartmouth Health, will serve a four-year term.
The (Artificial Intelligence) Therapist Can See You Now – NPR
Read article – Nicholas Jacobson, an associate professor of biomedical data science and psychiatry, is featured in a story about the study he led on Therabot, the first gen-AI therapy chatbot to undergo a clinical trial. “The effects that we see strongly mirror what you would see in the best evidence-based trials of psychotherapy,” Jacobson said. (Picked up by NHPR, Iowa Public Radio, New Orleans Public Radio, Maine Public, North Carolina Public Radio, Cape, Coast and Islands, Wyoming Public Radio, Virginia Public Radio, Hawaii Public Radio, Kansas Public Radio, San Diego Public Radio, and several more.)
A 600-Year-Old Masterpiece Gets Some Much-Needed Love – The New York Times
Read article – Geisel faculty member Steven Woloshin, MD, professor of health policy and clinical practice, is featured in a New York Times article about three doctors who fell in love with a fresco by Fra Angelico and pledged to restore it so it could get its due when a blockbuster exhibition opens this fall.
Can a Chatbot Be Your Therapist? A Study Found ‘Amazing Potential’ With the Right Guardrails – CNET
Read article – Nicholas Jacobson, an associate professor of biomedical data science and psychiatry, is featured in an article about Dartmouth’s Therabot, the first therapy chatbot to undergo a clinical trial. “With Therabot, folks will access and did access it throughout the course of the trial in their daily life, in moments where they need it the most,” Jacobson said.
These Two Companies Create On-Demand TV for People Living With Dementia – New Hampshire Public Radio
Read article – Robert Santulli, an honorary associate professor of psychiatry, is quoted in an article about two new on demand streaming services that offer slow-paced, plot-free videos for people living with dementia. “Couples who always used to do things together and now one had dementia and the other doesn’t, that’s really hard, because there are so many things they can’t do anymore,” Santulli said. “So it’s very important to have an activity that you can do with the person that you love and you’re caring for.”
How Do You Teach an AI Model to Give Therapy? – MIT Technology Review
Read article – Nicholas Jacobson, an associate professor of biomedical data science and psychiatry, is featured in an article about the process of developing Therabot. The model initially learned from conversations on forums between people discussing their mental health crises and was not successful so the team turned to transcripts of therapy sessions. “This is actually how a lot of psychotherapists are trained,” Jacobson said.
Where Does Formella Stand on Cuts That Threaten NH’s Health and Economy? – New Hampshire Union-Leader
Read article – An opinion piece by Jacob Borodovsky, a senior research scientist in the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health and the Department of Biomedical Data Science, writes about the effects of potential cuts in NIH grants on the NH economy and the communities that benefit from research. “I’m effectively a public servant. Your tax dollars fund my research so that I can try to solve problems that affect you, your family, and your neighbors,” Borodovsky writes.
Study Finds AI Chatbot Can Improve Mental Health – Psychology Today
Read article – A story on a study led by senior author Nicholas Jacobson, an associate professor of biomedical data science and psychiatry, and first author Michael Heinz, an assistant professor of psychiatry, reporting the results of the first-ever clinical trial of a generative-AI therapy chatbot. “Fine-tuned Gen-AI chatbots offer a feasible approach to delivering personalized mental health interventions at scale, although further research with larger clinical samples is needed to confirm their effectiveness and generalizability,” the scientists concluded.
In N.H., Possible Medicaid Cuts Could Put People Battling Cancer at Risk – The Boston Globe
Read article – Andrew P. Loehrer, an associate professor of surgery, is featured in an article about the impacts of possible Medicare cuts in New Hampshire. Loehrer worries that rolling back Medicaid eligibility could undermine preventive care and unwind the program’s progress.