Research Assistant

Company Description

By working at Harvard University, you join a vibrant community that advances Harvard's world-changing mission in meaningful ways, inspires innovation and collaboration, and builds skills and expertise. We are dedicated to creating a diverse and welcoming environment where everyone can thrive.

Why join Harvard Medical School?

Harvard Medical School's mission is to nurture a diverse, inclusive community dedicated to alleviating suffering and improving health and well-being for all through excellence in teaching and learning, discovery and scholarship, and service and leadership.

You’ll be at the heart of biomedical discovery, education, and innovation, working alongside world-renowned faculty and a community dedicated to improving human health. This is more than a job - it’s an opportunity to shape the future of medicine.

Job Description

The Mental Health for All Lab promotes the generation of knowledge and its effective utilization with the goal of contributing to the reduction of the global burden of mental health problems through task-sharing scale-up and digital interventions. The research program is based in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is under the direction of Prof. Vikram Patel and is co-led by Dr. John Naslund.

The Mental Health for All Lab is seeking a Research Assistant (RA) to support two major global mental health research programs: OptimizeD, a large precision medicine trial for depression in India funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and BRIDGE-AI, a Wellcome-funded study focused on the safe and equitable integration of artificial intelligence into clinical supervision for task-shared mental health care. The OptimizeD study aims to optimize treatment for depression by determining which patients will do better on antidepressant medication versus behavioral activation psychotherapy through a machine learning-generated precision treatment rule. More information about the study can be found in the study protocol: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12888-025-07030-9?utm_source=rct_congratemailt&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=oa_20250730&utm_content=10.1186%2Fs12888-025-07030-9

BRIDGE-AI will adapt and evaluate an AI tool to improve therapy quality in India and develop an ethical and governance framework for the safe, equitable, and responsible use of AI in mental health supervision. The project combines global mental health, implementation science, artificial intelligence, bioethics, and lived-experience perspectives.