Email: Lisa_Vizer@med.unc.edu

Twitter: @LMVizer

RESEARCH STATEMENT

I apply person-centered mixed methods to investigate techniques for detecting and monitoring brain conditions such as cognitive impairment and mental health. My research philosophy places the people I serve at the center, always integrating their perspective with sound research practices and appropriate technology to develop solutions that best serve their health management needs. I am particularly interested in using digital phenotyping that leverages passive markers of language and behavior to unobtrusively assess and monitor symptoms associated with trauma exposure, cancer-related cognitive impairment, behavioral health, and cognitive decline.

EDUCATION

University of Washington (UW), Seattle, WA
NLM Postdoctoral Fellow, Biomedical and Health Informatics, 2013-2015
UMBC, Baltimore, MD
PhD, Information Systems, May 2013
MS, Information Systems, Dec 2009
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh, PA
MHCI, Human-Computer Interaction, HCI Institute, Dec 1998
BS, Computer Science, Human Factors minor, May 1998

GRANT SUPPORT

3U01MH110925-04S1 (NIMH)
Vizer(PI)
01/06/2020-07/31/2021
Research supplement award for project titled “Longitudinal Assessment of Post-traumatic Syndromes” investigating smartphone word use by people in the year following a trauma experience. This is the first longitudinal analysis of non-trauma-related language relative to presence and severity of trauma symptoms. Using structural equation modeling, we will model Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework constructs and construct trajectories with text message features to determine the value of these features as measures of adverse posttraumatic neuropsychiatric sequelae latent constructs and construct trajectories.

HONORS AND AWARDS

  • 2015 AMIA Homer Warner Best Paper Award
  • 2013-2015 Fellow, NIH, NLM Biomedical and Health Informatics Training Program, UW
  • 2013 ACM CHI Conference Graduate Student Research Competition, Paris, France, 3rd place
  • 2006-2011 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
  • 2011 Best Presentation Award, USAB
  • 2011 Phi Kappa Phi, Member
  • 1998 Phi Beta Kappa, Member
  • 1994-1998 CMU, School of Computer Science Dean’s List, 6 semesters

CURRENT RESEARCH PROGRAM

mobiLIFE Lab – mobile brain health
Information Needs and mHealth

  • Investigating information needs and survivor perspectives associated with cancer-related cognitive impairment. In collaboration with adolescent and young adult cancer survivors, Dr. Andrew Smitherman, and Lauren Lux (UNC Lineberger).

Smartphone Interactions for Cognitive and Mental Health Applications

  • Developing method for unobtrusive monitoring of mental health in survivors of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancers. In collaboration with AYA survivors, Dr. Alex Leow (UIC, Psychiatry), Dr. Andrew Smitherman and Ms. Lauren Lux (UNC Lineberger).
  • Developing method for unobtrusive detection and monitoring of recovery from traumatic brain injury (TBI). In collaboration with people with TBI, Dr. Alex Leow (UIC, Psychiatry), and Dr. Johna Register-Mihalik (UNC Gfeller TBI Research Center).

Cancer-related Cognitive Impairment (CRCI)

  • Defining state of CRCI treatment in cancer survivors of any age through systematic review of the literature. With Dr. Zev Nakamura (UNC Psychiatry).
  • Defining state of research and future research agenda concerning CRCI in survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer through scoping review of the literature. In collaboration with Dr. Zev Nakamura (UNC Psychiatry), Dr. Andrew Smitherman and Ms. Lauren Lux (UNC Lineberger).

mHealth for Older Adults with Cognitive Decline

  • Defining state-of-the-art of mobile cognitive assessment and mobile support for IADLs for people with or at risk for dementia through scoping review of the literature. In collaboration with Dr. Bon Mi Koo (formerly of UNC).

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

University of Washington, Seattle ,WA
Biomedical and Health Informatics, mentors Drs. Wanda Pratt and George Demiris
Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, Sept 2013 to 2015

  • Developed and taught seminar entitled “Consumer Health Informatics (CHI)” with mentor Wanda Pratt. Course covered consumer-facing tools designed to support health. Topics included CHI for chronic health, telehealth, shared decision-making, health education, specific populations (children, older adults, vulnerable populations, etc.), health behavior change, patient engagement, and peer support.
    Course website: http://catalyst.uw.edu/workspace/lmvizer/48781/357447
  • Collaborated with Sage Bionetworks on research investigating how to facilitate self-assessment of cognitive effects of Parkinson’s Disease, dementia, and therapies for patients with breast cancer through mobile interactions. Advised on variables for passive monitoring of cognitive function, and assisted in design of cognitive monitoring module.
  • Collaborated with iMed Lab and GroupHealth on large grant to study preferences and challenges regarding reminders and notifications for patients with chronic disease for self-management. Assisted with design of studies, conducted interviews, analyzed data, co-authored publications, and facilitated design sessions with patients and clinicians.
  • Advised graduate students in Biomedical and Health Informatics and related majors on study design, execution, and analysis.

UMBC, Baltimore, MD
Lab for Interactive System Design, Drs. Andrew Sears and A. Ant Ozok
Research Assistant, Aug 2004 to May 2013

  • Explored the use of keystroke dynamics to detect cognitive status changes during the course of normal computer interactions. Designed and conducted initial study with 24 participants. Analyzed data using both statistical and machine-learning methods to produce 75% classification accuracy for cognitive stress. Conducted follow-up study including 20 young adults, 21 older adults, and 17 older adults with cognitive impairment. Analyzed data using machine learning and logistic regression and showed classification accuracies of 62-88% for individual stress models, 60% for generic stress model, 86% for age model, and 79% for Pre-Mild Cognitive Impairment model.
  • Supervised undergraduate research assistants in data collection and research software development.
  • Worked on interdisciplinary team at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute (JHMI) consisting of physicians, health technologists, and human factors engineers to conduct user survey comparing lightweight clinical image viewers. Participants were 369 JHMI clinicians who view medical images in the course of their work. I assisted in developing the evaluation survey questions, conducted literature review, prepared statistical analyses, and am writing manuscripts for publication.
  • Collaborated on study of the impact of usability on learning of medical information for pediatric asthma patients presenting to the emergency room.
  • Assisted in development of study to assess physical function relating to information technology of participants with and without disabilities. Assisted in developing data analysis plan.
  • Conducted pilot studies, assisted in making changes to study procedure, and ran 24 participants in study of speech navigation techniques. Assisted in beginning stages of data analysis.
  • Conducted pilot studies and assisted in modifying procedure in study of hand-held device interactions.

IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Hawthorne, NY
Accessibility Lab, Drs. Vicki L. Hanson and Sheri Trewin
Research Intern, May to September 2008

  • Designed and executed interview and survey study of the work practices of administrative assistants. Results informed further study of technological interventions for supporting workers as they age.
  • Assisted with usability testing of PowerUp, a virtual game designed to be accessible for those with a wide range of physical impairments. Participants were with adults with cerebral palsy. Redesigned on-screen navigation for better usability and tested paper-prototypes with users.
  • Evaluated the redesigned interface for accessibilityWorks web accessibility software using usability inspection methods. Assisted during feedback sessions with users having low-vision and cerebral palsy, and planned usability study with older adults.

CMU, Pittsburgh, PA
Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) and School of Design
Carnegie Mellon Graduate Projects, Aug 1997 to Dec 1998

  • TV Remote Control: Developed, with an industrial designer, a prototype and multimedia presentation of a device for remotely performing common TV control functions using new interaction techniques.
  • Panasonic Wireless: Developed, with four team members, a functional prototype of an in-home messaging center using a variety of prototyping and usability evaluation techniques.
  • PUMP Algebra Tutor Redesign: Participated in a team to evaluate and redesign the Quantity Animator, a multimedia tool used to illustrate algebraic relationships to middle school students.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Benelogic, LLC, Timonium, MD
User Experience Group
User Experience Engineer, Group Lead, June 2001 to Dec 2003
IBM, Research Triangle Park, NC
Design and Information Development Group
Human Factors Engineer, March 1999 to June 2000

PUBLICATIONS

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  1. Koo B and Vizer LM. 2019. Examining Mobile Technologies to Support Older Adults With Dementia Through the Lens of Personhood and Human Needs: Scoping Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) Mhealth Uhealth. 2019;7(11):e15122. Impact Factor 4.301
  2. Vizer LM, Eschler J, Koo B, Ralston J, Pratt W, Munson SA. 2019. “It’s not just technology, it’s people”: A Conceptual Model of Shared Health Informatics for chronic illness. Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR). 2019;21(4):e10830. Impact Factor 4.945
  3. Koo B and Vizer LM. 2019. Mobile Technology for Cognitive Assessment of Older Adults: A Scoping Review. Innovation in Aging: an Open Access Journal of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA).
  4. Vizer, L.M., Sears A. 2017. Efficacy of personalized models in discriminating high cognitive demand conditions using text-based technology interactions. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 104, 80-96.
  5. Vizer, L.M., Sears, A. 2015. Classifying Text-Based Computer Interactions for Health Monitoring. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 14(4), 64-71.
  6. O’Leary, K. , Vizer, L.M., Eschler, J., Ralston, J., Pratt, W. 2015. Understanding patients’ health and technology attitudes for tailoring self-management interventions. AMIA’15, Washington, DC. Homer R. Warner Award Winning Distinguished Paper.
  7. Jordan Eschler, Leslie S Liu, Lisa Vizer, Jennifer McClure, Paula Lozano, Wanda Pratt, James Ralston. 2015. Designing Asynchronous Communication Tools for Optimization of Patient-Clinician Coordination. Proceedings of the 2015 AMIA Annual Symposium
  8. O’Leary, K., Eschler, J., Kendall, L., Vizer, L.M., Ralston, J., Pratt, W. 2015. Understanding Design Tradeoffs for Health Technologies: A Mixed-Methods Approach. In Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference, May 2015.
  9. Eschler, J., Kendall, L., O’Leary, K., Vizer, L.M., Lozano, P., McClure, J., Pratt, W., Ralston, J. 2015. Shared Calendars for Home Health Management. In Proceedings of the ACM CSCW Conference, 2015.
  10. Kendall, L., Eschler, J., Lozano, P., McClure, J., Vizer, L.M., Ralston, J., Pratt, W. 2014. Engineering for reliability in at-home chronic disease management. In Proceedings of AMIA Annual Symposium, Washington, DC, November 2014.
  11. Vizer, L.M. 2013. Different Strokes for Different Folks: Individual Stress Response as Manifested in Typed Text. In CHI ’13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’13), April 2013.
  12. Vizer, L.M. Detecting Cognitive Impairment Using Keystroke and Linguistic Features of Typed Text. HFES 2013 Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care: Advancing the Cause. March 2013.
  13. Vizer, L.M., and Sears, A. 2011. Detecting Cognitive Impairment Using Keystroke and Linguistic Features of Typed Text: Toward an Adaptive Method for Continuous Monitoring of Cognitive Status. In Proceedings of Information Quality in e-Health – USAB 2011, Graz, Austria, Nov 2011, Holzinger and K-M. Simonic, Eds. Springer-Verlag, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 7058, pp483-500. [Best Presentation Award]
  14. Joshi, A., Arora, M., Dai, L., Price, K., Vizer, L.M., and Sears, A. 2009. Usability of a patient education and motivation tool using heuristic evaluation. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 6;11(4):e47.
  15. Vizer, L.M., Zhou, L., and Sears, A. 2009. Automated Stress Detection Using Keystroke and Text Features: An Exploratory Study. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. 67(10), 870-886.
  16. Joshi, A., Arora, M., Price, K., Vizer, L.M., Dai, L., and Sears, A. 2009. Applying Heuristic Evaluation to improve the usability of Patient Education and Motivation tool. In Proceedings of the APHA Scientific Conference, Philadelphia, PA, Nov 2009.
  17. Vizer, L.M. and Hanson, V. 2009. Generations in the workplace: An exploratory study with administrative assistants. In Proceedings of HCI International, San Diego, CA, June 2009, pp441-450.

Book Chapters

  1. Vizer, L.M. and Hall, M. 2015. The patient-centered electronic health record and patient portals. In Consumer Health Informatics: New Services, Roles, and Responsibilities. Wetter, T, Ed.

Doctoral Thesis

  • Vizer, L.M. 2013. Detecting cognitive stress and impairment using keystroke and linguistic features of typed text: Toward a method for continuous monitoring of cognitive status.

Invited Presentations

  • Vizer, L.M. Classifying Text-Based Computer Interactions for Health Monitoring. Workshop on Interactive Systems in Healthcare, May 2017.
  • Vizer, L.M. Efficacy of personalized models in discriminating high cognitive demand conditions using text-based interactions. Workshop on Interactive Systems in Healthcare, May 2017.
  • Vizer, L.M. Detecting Cognitive Impairment Using Keystroke and Linguistic Features of Typed Text. HFES 2013 Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care: Advancing the Cause. March 2013.
  • Vizer, L.M. 2008. Aging in the workplace: An exploratory study with administrative assistants. The Inclusive Digital Economy Network: Working towards a Digital Economy Inclusive of Older and Disabled People, University of York (UK), September 25-26, 2008.

Doctoral Consortium Papers [Refereed]

  • Vizer, L.M. 2009. Detecting cognitive and physical stress through typing behavior. In CHI ’09 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’09), April 2009.

Patents

  • Adapathya, R., Dungan, W., Gallarelli, P., Justus, T., Lawrence, M., Meserth, T., Vizer L.M. Cable management device for mixed media, US Patent Application No. 723652 filed 11/28/2000, US Patent 6546181 Issued on April 8, 2003

Press Coverage

TEACHING EXPERIENCES AND CONTINUING EDUCATION

PhD Dissertation Committee Member, Zhaopeng Xing

  • Member of dissertation committee for School of Information and Library Science PhD candidate Zhaopeng Xing investigating the online health information search behavior of older adults. 2019 to present.

Mentor, UNC-CH Carolina Health Informatics Program DataAware summer program

  • Supervise summer health informatics data analysis project for three high school students. Investigated disparities in health outcomes related to sociodemographic differences among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors in North Carolina. Summer 2019.

Mentor, UNC-CH Master of Professional Science degree in Biomedical and Health Informatics

  • Supervise capstone research projects for students in the BHI Program, 2016 to present: Eman Metwally, Holli White, Bon Mi Koo

Mentor, THInC (Triangle Health Innovation Challenge, Durham, NC)

  • Volunteer mentor for innovation teams. Mentored winning team on user interface and usability considerations, Fall 2015

Instructor, UW Biomedical and Health Informatics

  • BIME 591A Consumer Health Informatics Seminar, Winter 2015 (Wanda Pratt, faculty supervisor)

UW Center for Teaching and Learning

  • Teaching in the University Course, Participant and Presenter, Fall 2013

UMBC, Information Systems

  • Supervised and mentored undergraduate and graduate research assistants engaged in study design, data collection, and data analysis, 2009-2013

Teaching Assistant, CMU HCII

  • 05-410/05-610 Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction Methods, Bonnie John, Fall 1998

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Program Committee

  • HFES Healthcare Symposium, Clinical and Consumer Healthcare IT Track, Patient and Healthcare Provider Safety Track, 2013 to present

Grant Application Reviewer

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, 2019 to present
  • Israeli Ministry of Science, Technology and Space, 2014
  • UW Royalty Research Fund, 2014

Journal Reviewer

  • Journal of Medical Informatics Research, 2017 to present
  • International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 2014 to present
  • Informatics for Health and Social Care, 2014 to present
  • ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 2006
  • Accessibility and Human-Computer Interaction, 2007

Conference Reviewer

  • ACM SIGCHI Designing Interactive Systems Conference, 2020 to present
  • American Medical Informatics Association Annual Symposium, 2015 to present
  • Pervasive Health Conference, 2015 to present
  • HFES Annual Meeting, 2012 to present
  • ACM SIGCHI Conference, 2009 to present
  • ACM SIGACCESS ASSETS Conference, 2005 to present
  • HCII Conference, 2007 to present

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Member

  • Special Interest Groups: Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI), Accessible Computing (SIGACCESS), Health Informatics (SIGHIT)

Human-Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), Member

  • Technical Groups: Aging, Health Care

American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), Member

  • Consumer and Pervasive Health Informatics Working Group