Sherry Pagoto, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut. She is also a licensed clinical psychologist and Director of the UConn Center for mHealth and Social Media. She is also the President of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. Her research focuses on leveraging technology in the development and delivery of behavioral interventions targeting diet, physical activity, and cancer prevention behaviors. She has had federal funding for her program of research for 14 consecutive years, totaling over $11 million, and has published 184 papers in peer-reviewed journals. She has received several awards for her work including the UMass Medical School Women in Science and Health Achievement Award in 2015, The Obesity Society Pioneer in mHealth/eHealth Award in 2014, Society of Behavioral Medicine Early Career/Young Investigator Award in 2006, and the Western Michigan University Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011. Her work has been featured in major news outlets including CNN, NPR, NBC News, ABC News, and Good Morning America.
Eric Hekler, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine & Public Health in the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), the Director of the Center for Wireless & Population Health Systems within the Qualcomm Institute at UCSD, and the faculty member of the Design Lab at UCSD. His research focuses on individualized and “precise” behavior change for fostering long-term health and well-being. For example, his NSF-funded work focused on developing algorithms for guiding an intervention that determines an individualized “ambitious but doable” daily step goal to strive for each day; with the long-term goal to develop a comprehensive intervention that provides the right type of support for physical activity only when it is needed. Eric’s Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant focused on developing a method for the more rapid collective development of technology-delivered behavior change strategies, a process he and his colleagues have labeled Agile Science. Prior to UCSD, he was a professor at Arizona at State University. Eric completed his postdoctoral training at Stanford University and received his Ph.D. in Clinical Health Psychology from Rutgers University.
Dr. Brennan Spiegel, a physician-scientist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, has cited his own experience of attempting to build health technology whilst not addressing behavioral factors like patient motivation, engagement, and long-term adherence.