Yama Chang, MA
PhD Student, Artificial Intelligence and Mental Health: Innovation in Technology Guided Healthcare Lab, Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Yama Chang (she/her) is a PhD student in the Quantitative Biomedical Sciences (QBS) program at Dartmouth College, mentored by Dr. Nicholas Jacobson in the Artificial Intelligence and Mental Health: Innovation in Technology Guided Healthcare Lab at the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health.
Her research focuses on leveraging passive sensing, wearable devices, large language models (LLMs), and just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs) to deliver scalable, personalized support for mental wellness. As part of the Evergreen AI initiative at Dartmouth, Yama is conducting research on the design and evaluation of a real-time, campus-wide intervention system that integrates multimodal data streams with LLM-based decision engines to deliver safe and adaptive support for undergraduate students. More broadly, she is interested in optimizing the timing of digital interventions and advancing clinical safety in AI-driven mental health systems.
Before beginning her PhD, Yama earned a master’s in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University and worked as a data scientist at the Lab for Scalable Mental Health.
In her free time, she enjoys meditation and yoga, trying out new coffees and teas, biking and skiing with friends, and traveling to places around the world.
Selected Publications
- Szkody E, Chang YW, Schleider JL. Serving the underserved? Uptake, effectiveness, and acceptability of digital SSIS for rural American adolescents. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2025 Sep-Oct;54(5):541-554. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2023.2272935. PMID: 37931065; PMCID: PMC11070444.
- Chang YW, Sotomayor I, Szkody E, Fox KR, Schleider JL. Effectiveness of an online single-session minority stress intervention: No evidence for variation by structural stigma, internalized stigma, or social support. SSM-Mental Health. 2025 June;7;100409.
- Chang YW, Buerke M, Galfalvy H, Szanto K. Childhood trauma is associated with early-onset but not late-onset suicidal behavior in late-life depression. Int Psychogeriatr. 2024 May;36(5):371-384. doi: 10.1017/S1041610223000662. PMID: 37642013; PMCID: PMC10902201.