Investigators at NYU Langone’s Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry conduct digital innovation research, applying technology and data science in ways that improve the quality and accessibility of mental healthcare for children and adolescents.

What informs our research and digital innovation agenda is the recognition that the majority of children and adolescents with mental health conditions do not have access to treatment, and even fewer have access to evidence-based care.

Our digital innovation portfolio crosses NYU Langone Health’s research, clinical, and education missions and encompasses digital tools (research), telepsychiatry (clinical), and digital resources (education).

WonderLab

To accelerate the pace of research and advance the science of child and adolescent mental health, we have established an in-house digital innovation laboratory called WonderLab. At WonderLab, child mental health experts, software developers, user experience designers, data scientists, and engineers build beautiful, fun, and engaging digital tools that help children and families learn about and address mental healthcare needs while generating new scientific knowledge about child mental health.

WonderLab’s mission is to transform the science and practice of child mental health using technology to engage parents as our design, discovery, and care partners.

Why We Do It

What informs WonderLab’s digital innovation agenda is the recognition that the majority of children and adolescents with mental health conditions do not have access to treatment, and even fewer have access to evidence-based care.

How We Do It

WonderLab’s cross-functional, multidisciplinary team works with NYU Langone’s Medical Center Information Technology (MCIT) and outside technology collaborators to build and deploy novel tools and approaches that are evidence-based, developmentally sensitive, and scalable, and that empower children and adolescents with diverse mental healthcare needs and their families.

As a leader in bioethics and child mental health in the digital age, and caretakers of some of the most vulnerable children and families, WonderLab continually works to establish best practices regarding ethics, privacy, and data security in child mental health digital innovation.

We offer a framework for how researchers, healthcare providers, engineers, and designers can work together to develop products, tools, and approaches at an academic medical center. WonderLab not only leads by example, we actively share our processes to enable others to achieve similar success.

What We Do

We build digital tools and approaches to bridge gaps in scientific knowledge and to improve access to evidence-based knowledge and care. Our first digital tool is the When to Wonder: Picky Eating app, available for iOS and Android.

WonderLab Core Team

As caretakers of some of the most vulnerable children and families, we continually work to establish best practices regarding ethics, privacy, and data security in child mental health digital innovation.

Helen L. Egger, MD
Founder and Co-Lead, WonderLab
Co-Director, Digital DesignLab
Director, Child Study Center at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone
Chair, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Timothy L. Verduin, PhD
Co-Lead, WonderLab
Director, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity and Behavior Disorders Service, Child Study Center
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Katherine E. Driscoll, MPH
Senior Project Coordinator, WonderLab
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Rachel Podbury
Senior Project Manager, WonderLab
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Departmental and Institutional Collaborators

We work with the following members of NYU Langone departments and institutes:

Cheryl R. Stein, PhD, MPH
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Chenyue Zhao, PhD
Research Scientist and Epidemiologist
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Our Partners

Other partners include the following:
Nancy Zucker, PhD
Founder and Director, Duke Center for Eating Disorders Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University Medical Center

StoryMineMedia

ThoughtWorks

u2i

Contact Us

To find out more about the WonderLab, email us at wonderlab@nyulangone.org.