Nina Vasan

Last updated
Dr. Nina Vasan
Personal details
Born
Nina Vasan

(1984-01-27) January 27, 1984 (age 39)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Residence Palo Alto, CA
Alma mater Harvard University
Harvard Medical School
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Website http://www.ninavasan.com

Nina Vasan (born January 27, 1984) is an American psychiatrist and author [1] of the Amazon #1 best-selling [2] book Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action and Innovation. [3] She is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. She is currently the Founder and Executive Director of Brainstorm: The Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation at Stanford University. [4] She won the 2002 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. [5]

Contents

Early years

Vasan was born in Washington, DC, spent her childhood in Vienna, West Virginia, and attended Parkersburg High School. At age 16, she started a local group in Wood County to engage teenagers in the American Cancer Society that grew into a nationwide network of teen volunteers leading efforts in education, advocacy, and service. [6] For this work, Vasan was honored as Prudential Spirit of Community Awards National Honoree, [7] an Olympic torchbearer, and a USA Today All-USA Academic First Team member. [8]

Vasan was active in the Girl Scouts since age 7 and received the highest honor in Girl Scouting, the Gold Award Young Woman of Distinction, [9] from Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 2002. [10] She also participated in the America's Junior Miss pageant as West Virginia's Junior Miss. [11]

In 2002, Vasan won the $50,000 Intel Foundation Young Scientist award, the top Grand Prize award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, for her work with Harvard Medical School professor Jeremy Wolfe on visual learning, which she conducted at the Research Science Institute. [12] She also received the Seaborg (now Dudley Herschbach) SIYSS Award, which led to her presenting her research during the 2002 Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm. [13]

Education

Vasan entered Harvard College and graduated with an A.B. in Government in 2006. She was named one of the "Top 10 College Women" in the US by Glamour Magazine. [14] She earned an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and was voted by classmates as a student commencement speaker. [15] She completed her residency training at Stanford University School of Medicine, where she was a Chief Resident in Psychiatry. [16] While in residency, she completed an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Career

During the 2008 Presidential Election, Vasan served as a Co-Leader of Battleground State Outreach [17] for the Obama presidential campaign's Health Policy Advisory Committee. [18] She also interned for a summer in the Office of Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan at the World Health Organization in Geneva. [ citation needed ]

After graduating from Harvard Medical School in 2013, she entered residency training in Psychiatry at Stanford University Hospital in Stanford, California. In 2015, Vasan launched The Psychiatry Innovation Lab [19] at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, the world's largest psychiatric organization. The PIL is an incubator that catalyzes the formation of innovative ventures to transform mental healthcare. [20] MedTech Boston named her a "40 Under 40 Healthcare Innovator" in 2016. [21]

In 2016, she launched Brainstorm: The Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation, the world's first academic laboratory dedicated to transforming mental health through technology and entrepreneurship. [16] She started the first college course on mental health entrepreneurship [22] and the first virtual reality and augmented reality innovation lab for brain and behavioral health. [23] In 2017, Vasan was named to the shortlist for the Financial Times and McKinsey Bracken Bower Prize, awarded to the best business book proposal by an author aged under 35. [24]

In 2019, Vasan and Brainstorm colleagues worked with Pinterest to launch a "Compassionate Search" feature. The new tool provides evidence-based mental health and stress relief tools to users searching for topics like "anxiety" and "stress". [25] Compassionate Search is designed to make mental health tools more accessible to users with difficulty accessing mental health services, while changing the experience of how mental health is addressed online towards a more open and honest experience free from stigma. [26] They also addressed issues of suicide, safety, and self-harm that led to changes in the Pinterest platform, including creating a set of exercises for improving user's emotional outcomes, [27] as well as AI, which Pinterest said achieved an 88% reduction in reports of self-harm content by users and ability to remove such content 3 times faster. [28] This work was named by Fast Company as one of the Best Designs for Social Good [29] and Most Innovative Wellness Projects [30] of 2020.

Book

Vasan's experience as a young civic entrepreneur led to her co-authoring the #1 Amazon best-selling book [2] Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action and Innovation [3] on how to maximize impact [31] in solving social problems. [32] Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus called the book "the primer for social innovation." [33]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Rock</span> American businessman and venture capitalist

Arthur Rock is an American businessman and investor. Based in Silicon Valley, California, he was an early investor in major firms including Intel, Apple, Scientific Data Systems and Teledyne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusetts General Hospital</span> Hospital in Massachusetts, United States

Massachusetts General Hospital is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, Harvard University located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Hospital houses the world's largest hospital-based research program, the Mass General Research Institute, with an annual research budget of more than $1.2 billion in 2021. It is the third-oldest general hospital in the United States with a patient capacity of 999 beds. Along with Brigham and Women's Hospital, Mass General is a founding member of Mass General Brigham, formerly known as Partners HealthCare, the largest healthcare provider in Massachusetts. It is currently ranked among the best hospitals in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gold Award (Girl Scouts of the USA)</span> Highest achievement within the Girl Scouts of the USA

The Gold Award is the highest achievement within the Girl Scouts of the USA, earned by Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts. Only 5.4% of eligible Girl Scouts successfully earn the Gold Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Science and Engineering Fair</span> Annual science fair in the U.S.

The Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is an annual science fair in the United States. It is owned and administered by the Society for Science, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. Each May, more than 1800 students from roughly 75 countries and territories compete in the fair for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, scientific field trips and the grand prizes, including one $75,000 and two $50,000 college scholarships. All prizes together amount to over $8,000,000. Two major awards ceremonies are the Special Awards Organization Presentation and the Grand Awards Ceremony. The International Science and Engineering Fair was founded in 1950 by Science Service and was sponsored by Intel from 1997 to 2019. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals became the title sponsor for ISEF in 2020, but the event was cancelled that year and replaced with an online version due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 ISEF was a fully virtual event while 2022 was held online and in-person in Atlanta, GA, and 2023 was in person in Dallas, TX. The 2024 ISEF will be held in person in Los Angeles, CA.

Lisa Dixon is a professor of psychiatry at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the Director of the Division of Behavioral Health Services and Policy Research within the Department of Psychiatry. Her research focuses on improving the quality of care for individuals diagnosed with serious mental illnesses. She directs the Center for Practice Innovations (CPI) at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, where she oversees the implementation of evidence-based practices for individuals with serious mental illnesses for the New York State Office of Mental Health. She leads OnTrackNY, a statewide treatment program for adolescents and young adults experiencing their first episode of psychosis.

Tanya Marie Luhrmann is an American psychological anthropologist known for her studies of modern-day witches, charismatic Christians, and studies of how culture shapes psychotic, dissociative, and related experiences. She has also studied culture and morality, and the training of psychiatrists. She is Watkins University Professor in the Anthropology Department at Stanford University. Luhrmann was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Well-being</span> General term for condition of individual or group

Well-being, or wellbeing, also known as wellness, prudential value, prosperity or quality of life, refers to what is intrinsically valuable relative to someone. So the well-being of a person is what is ultimately good for this person, what is in the self-interest of this person. Well-being can refer to both positive and negative well-being. In its positive sense, it is sometimes contrasted with ill-being as its opposite. The term "subjective well-being" denotes how people experience and evaluate their lives, usually measured in relation to self-reported well-being obtained through questionnaires.

Terrie Edith Moffitt is an American-British clinical psychologist who is best known for her pioneering research on the development of antisocial behavior and for her collaboration with colleague and partner Avshalom Caspi in research on gene-environment interactions in mental disorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincenzo Di Nicola</span> Italian-Canadian psychologist

Vincenzo Di Nicola is an Italian-Canadian psychologist, psychiatrist and family therapist, and philosopher of mind.

Harvard Innovation Labs (i-Lab) is an institution which aims to promote team-based and entrepreneurial activities among Harvard students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and members of the Allston and Greater Boston communities.

Laurie Renee Santos is an American cognitive scientist and professor of psychology at Yale University. She is the director of Yale's Comparative Cognition Laboratory, Director of Yale's Canine Cognition Lab, and former Head of Yale's Silliman College. She has been a featured TED speaker and has been listed in Popular Science as one of their "Brilliant Ten" young scientists in 2007 as well as in Time magazine as a "Leading Campus Celebrity" in 2013.

The Psychiatry Innovation Lab is an incubator at the American Psychiatric Association that catalyzes the formation of innovative ventures to transform mental healthcare. It was founded by American psychiatrist and author Dr. Nina Vasan in 2015. The Lab nurtures early-stage ideas and ventures by investing in them with mentorship, education, funding, and collaboration opportunities with a community of mental health innovators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith L. Rapoport</span> American psychiatrist

Judith L. Rapoport is an American psychiatrist. She is the chief of the Child Psychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.

Angela Zhang is an Asian American scientist who in 2009, at the age of 14, began to research at Stanford University. By 2011, Zhang's research won the $100,000 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, and earned her widespread notability for her research on cancer treatments with iron oxide gold nanoparticles. She graduated from Harvard in 2016, and is now at Stanford University.

Catherine Lord is an American psychologist and researcher. She is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts in autism. She currently serves as a member of the International Advisory Board for the The Lancet Psychiatry, as co-chair of the Scientific Research Council of the Child Mind Institute, and as the George Tarjan Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Education at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

Ann Mei Chang is the CEO of non-profit organization Candid. She is a technology expert, global development advocate, author, and public speaker.

Rediet Abebe is an Ethiopian computer scientist working in algorithms and artificial intelligence. She is an assistant professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, she was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolyn I. Rodriguez</span> Puerto Rican psychiatrist

Carolyn I. Rodriguez is a Puerto Rican psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and clinical researcher developing treatments for obsessive compulsive disorder as well as mapping circuit dysfunction in the human brain. Rodriguez holds appointments in both clinical and academic departments at Stanford University. Rodriguez is a Clinical Lab Director at the Stanford Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological Imaging, an associate professor and Associate Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and a Director of several specialized translational research programs.

Alia Joy Crum is an American psychologist who is the principal investigator of the Stanford Mind and Body Lab.

Gabriella Gobbi is an Italo-Canadian psychiatrist and neuroscientist whose research explores novel treatments for mental health disorders. Gobbi is a professor at McGill University's Department of Psychiatry and a Canada Research Chair in Therapeutics for Mental Health.

References

  1. ↑ "First-Year Experience". lp.wileypub.com. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  2. 1 2 Vasan, Nina; Przybylo, Jennifer (2013-03-25). Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action, and Social Innovation (1 ed.). Hoboken, N.J.; Chichester: Jossey-Bass. ISBN   9781118382943.
  3. 1 2 Przybylo, Jennifer; Vasan, Nina (2013-04-04). "Teaching Students to Do Good Well". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  4. ↑ "Stanford's Brainstorm lab works with Pinterest, others to apply product design to mental health". The Stanford Daily. 2019-09-17. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  5. ↑ "Young Scientists From Around The World Receive Total Of $3 Million In Scholarships And Prizes". www.intel.com. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  6. ↑ Damon, William (2009-04-07). The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life. Simon and Schuster. ISBN   9781416537243.
  7. ↑ "West Virginia's Nina Vasan of Vienna Named One of America's Top Ten Youth Volunteers; State's James Taylor of Worthington Also Honored During 4-Day Celebration With Tribute from Martin Sheen of TV's 'West Wing'. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  8. ↑ "USATODAY.com - 2002 All-USA High School Academic First Team". usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  9. ↑ "National Young Women of Distinction - Girl Scouts". Girl Scouts of the USA. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  10. ↑ McCarroll, Christina (2002-04-03). "Scout gives back to her orphanage". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN   0882-7729 . Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  11. ↑ "Mountain Home-Grown Beauty Queen | Magazine | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  12. ↑ "Young Scientists From Around The World Receive Total Of $3 Million In Scholarships And Prizes". www.intel.com. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  13. ↑ "Dudley R. Herschbach SIYSS Award Winners". Student Science. 2016-06-17. Archived from the original on 2017-02-27. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  14. ↑ "The scary truth about college health clinics. Top 10 college women: 2005. The top 10 college winners 1995". www.readabstracts.com. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  15. ↑ "Change in Medicine Theme for New HMS Grads | HMS". hms.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-08-03. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  16. 1 2 Lewis Strain, Aimee (2018-06-01). "Inspirational brain health expert hopes to shatter the stigma associated with mental health". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  17. ↑ "The Petition and Selected Signatories". New Republic. 2009-02-08. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  18. ↑ Pollack, Harold (2009-03-12). "Feeling Bad about Politics this Week? Check out Doctors for Obama". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  19. ↑ Levin, Aaron (2016-02-12). "Resident Wants to Jump-Start Thinking on Quality Improvement". Psychiatric News. 51 (4): 1. doi:10.1176/appi.pn.2016.2b15.
  20. ↑ "Psychiatry Innovation Lab nurtures young businesses". www.mdedge.com. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  21. ↑ "The 2016 MedTech Boston 40 Under 40 Healthcare Innovators". MedTech Boston. 2016-05-02. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  22. ↑ "Classy Classes: PSYC 240 gets students working on mental health care". The Stanford Daily. 2017-03-27. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  23. ↑ Brennan, Dominic (2017-10-04). "Stanford Event Seeks Innovative Uses of VR for Behavioural Health". Road to VR. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  24. ↑ Hill, Andrew (2017-10-17). "Bracken Bower Prize 2017: the shortlist". The Financial Times. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  25. ↑ "Pinterest rolls out new tool aimed at helping users with anxiety, stress". MobiHealthNews. 2019-07-23. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  26. ↑ "Feeling Stressed Out? Pinterest Wants to Help". 2019-07-22. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  27. ↑ "Pinterest Has a New Plan to Address Self-Harm". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  28. ↑ "Pinterest says AI reduced reported self-harm content by 88%". VentureBeat. 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  29. ↑ "The best designs for social good of 2020". 30 September 2020.
  30. ↑ "The most innovative wellness projects of 2020". 30 September 2020.
  31. ↑ "Do Good Well". Do Good Well. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  32. ↑ "Harvard grad guides entrepreneurs to 'Do Good Well'". USA TODAY College. 2013-03-29. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  33. ↑ "Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action, and Social Innovation". www.wiley.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.