Researcher profile

David Villarreal-Zegarra

I hold a degree in Psychology from the National University of San Marcos, a Master’s degree in Public Health and Global Health from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, and I am currently a doctoral candidate in Biomedical Informatics at the University of Utah. I am a Graduate Research Assistant in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Utah. In addition, I serve as Research Director at the Digital Health Research Center, Secretary of the Mental Health Informatics Working Group of the American Medical Informatics Association, and Editor-in-Chief of Interacciones: Journal of Family, Clinical, and Health Psychology. My work centers on the development and evaluation of scalable digital and artificial intelligence–based interventions to enhance mental health and well-being, including chatbots and adaptive interventions. I also have substantial experience working with public institutions to evaluate public health policies and analyze large-scale databases to monitor progress toward health goals in low- and middle-income countries, particularly Peru. My principal research interests include digital mental health interventions and mental health epidemiology.