CBITs' "The Future of" Digital Mental Health Rising Star Award

The Rising Star Award spotlights an outstanding early-career investigator driving innovation and impact in digital mental health. The awardee will present at the final Future of Digital Mental Health webinar of the academic year and will receive a $250 honorarium and an official certificate.

2026 Rising Star Award Winner

Candice Biernesser, PhD, LCSW 

candice-biernesser.jpgDr. Biernesser is a behavioral health scientist and licensed clinical social worker, currently appointed as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests rest in three areas: adolescent suicide prevention, the study of social media experiences, and the development and testing of digital interventions. Her current line of research focuses on examining ways to understand and mitigate the impact of negative social media experiences, particularly focusing on online victimization given its linkage to suicide risk among youth. She is passionate about developing digital interventions to improve the mental health of adolescents from underserved and minoritized communities. She and her team have been integral to the development, testing, and implementation of a range of digital tools including a smartphone app, texting program, chatbot, and web-based tools through funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and American Society for Suicide Prevention.

REGISTER FOR THE MAY 19 WEBINAR 

Honorable Mentions:

  • Ashleigh Golden, PhD, MSCP 

    (Wayhaven, Stanford University School of Medicine): Establishing rigorous, scalable frameworks for evaluating AI in mental health and advancing upstream identification and mitigation of subtle psychological harms in general-purpose AI systems

  • Varun Mishra, PhD 

    (Northeastern University): Transforming real‑world sensing data into reliable, personalized mental health insights 

  • Caitlin Stamatis, PhD 

    (Slingshot AI): Scaling digital mental health tools while safeguarding equity, trust, and clinical integrity 

Nomination Eligibility and Evaluation Rubric

Nominations are now closed for the 2026 Rising Star Award. Revisit this page in fall 2026 for information on the 2027 Rising Star Award.

Eligibility 

  • Early career investigators (assistant professor equivalent or within seven years of terminal degree). Individuals in non-academic positions are welcome to apply.
  • Research focus: digital mental or behavioral health.
  • Able to present (virtually) on the final CBITs "The Future of" Webinar.

Nomination Materials 

  • Research abstract (max 350 words) on the nominee's vision for The Future of Digital Mental Health, as based on their research program.
  • Nomination letter (max 500 words) describing the nominee's contributions, accomplishments, and alignment with the call. If a self-nomination, the letter can be from the nominee.
  • CV

Evaluation

Submissions are rated by CBITs faculty based on the rubric below, with primary emphasis on research significance, impact and innovation.

Category Description
Research Significance & Impact Importance of the body of completed/ongoing research for advancing knowledge within the field or more broadly.
Innovation Applies novel concepts, methods or technologies; or uses existing concepts, methods or technologies in novel ways.
Leadership & Service Demonstrates leadership and/or service in the field, such as in professional organizations, on editorial or non-profit boards, or in creating policy briefs, white papers or op-eds.
Methods in user and/or community engagement Aligned with our CBITs' scientific focus on bridging psychological science and human-computer interaction, the candidate's research includes inclusive methods that promote user and/or community engagement, such as those from human-computer interaction/human-centered design or community-engaged participatory research.

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