I am an Assistant Professor at Emory University, Co-Director of the Center for AI in Reproductive health at Emory, and serve on the WHO/Europe Technical Advisory Group on AI for Health. I study how people use, resist, and negotiate with AI in care settings; design and evaluate AI systems that work safely in messy, real-world contexts; and develop digital methods for researching taboo care topics such as reproductive wellbeing and mental health. My work aims to bridge the gap between AI research and implementation, ensuring that systems developed in the lab work for the diverse communities and care workers impacted by them. As an interdisciplinary scholar, I engage in participatory design, UI/UX research, system development, and mixed-methods evaluation. I have a Ph.D. in human-centered computing and an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from Georgia Tech.
I am also deeply committed to children's learning and development in a rapidly changing technological world. In 2018, I co-founded MakerGhat, a nonprofit in India that fosters hands-on making, creativity, and AI fluency among children and youth from underserved communities, so they can grow into active shapers, not passive consumers, of the technologies that shape their lives.
My research has entailed developing long-term relationships with communities, non-profit organizations, and industry actors. I have been fortunate to receive several honors for my work, including from Google, the ACM SIGCHI Dissertation Award, MIT Solve (Global Learning Challenge Solver), and Forbes 30 under 30 Asia. I was also named to the list of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics, and 75 Women in STEAM by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India.
Research Areas
Studying and Designing for Human-AI Interaction
How do people use, not use, reject, negotiate, and question AI? I study these dynamics and co-design with communities, families, clinicians, and organizations to build AI systems that meet lived experiences, real-world interaction patterns, and everyday workflows.
- “Kya family planning after marriage hoti hai?”: Integrating Cultural Sensitivity in an LLM Chatbot CHI 2025
- Understanding OB/GYN Physicians’ Perceptions Towards the Use of AI in Menopausal Care Interactive Health 2026
- “Who Has the Time?”: Receptivity to Health Chatbots among Underserved Women in India Gender & Technology 2025
- Public Health Calls for/with AI: An Ethnographic Perspective CSCW 2023
AI Safety & Evaluation as Sociotechnical Practice
How do we know an AI system is safe and reliable in context, not just accurate on benchmarks? I develop evaluation and human-oversight methods and tools that mirror how systems are actually used, surfacing risks and failures both before and during deployment.
Digital Methods for Research on Taboo Care Topics
How can digital and design-based methods enable research on care topics that are taboo or difficult to discuss? I build culturally grounded approaches, from design probes to conversational tools (most recently with voice agents), for studying mental health, reproductive wellbeing, and intimate partner violence, creating spaces where stigmatized experiences can surface and be better understood.
Integrating an Ethics of Care
Who is AI built for, and who is left out? I draw on a feminist ethics of care to center frontline workers and underserved communities, especially in reproductive health. I attend to the relational, gendered, and often invisible labor of care when integrating AI in low-resource or culturally diverse contexts.
- Imagining Caring Futures for Frontline Health Work CSCW 2022
- Centering Care in the Design of AI in Global Health ACM SIGCHI Dissertation Award
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