Christopher You, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence (CDHAI) at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. His research sits at the intersection of conversational AI, human-AI collaboration, and real-world healthcare deployment, with a focus on building and rigorously evaluating AI systems that meaningfully improve mental health and clinical care.
Dr. You received his Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing from the University of Florida. His dissertation focused on interaction paradigms in AI and virtual human systems that promote conversational engagement with users and promote mental health. His work has also spanned NIH-funded interdisciplinary collaborations with Mayo Clinic and the University of Miami, including an embodied-agent platform to improve care for psychiatric patients and a multi-institutional AI clinical trial enrollment system evaluated with cancer patients. Dr. You also holds an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Florida and a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota.
Education
- PhD, Human-Centered Computing, University of Florida
- MS, Computer Science, University of Florida
- BS, Computer Science, University of Minnesota
Research
You, C., Ghosh, R., Vilaro, M., Venkatakrishnan, R., Venkatakrishnan, R., Maxim, A., Peng, X., Tamboli, D., & Lok, B. (2025). Alter egos alter engagement: Perspective-taking can improve disclosure quantity and depth to AI chatbots in promoting mental wellbeing. Frontiers in Digital Health, 7, 1655860.
https://christopheryou.github.io/samples/Alter_Egos_Alter_Engagement_Frontiers_2025.pdf
You, C., Ghosh, R., Maxim, A., Peng, X., Tamboli, D., Huang, Z., ... & Lok, B. (2026, June). Build-A-Being Yourself: A Web-Based System for Authoring Embodied Conversational Agents in Healthcare Research. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 427-446). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
https://christopheryou.github.io/samples/Build_a_Being_Yourself_HCII_2026.pdf
Working Papers
- You, C., Ghosh, R., Canales, R., Venkatakrishnan, R., Venkatakrishnan, R., Vilaro, M., & Lok, B. Human-ai collaboration and user-state modeling promotes change-driven engagement with ecas in mental health conversations. Computers in Human Behavior.
Impact and Engagement
Community
Dr. You's research has directly engaged underserved and rural communities in clinical trial access, including work with Mayo Clinic and the University of Miami on AI-driven outreach for Black, Hispanic, and rural populations, and a provider-facing referral portal to improve cancer trial diversity. He employs a community-based participatory research approach, partnering with community health educators to develop culturally responsive tools, including identity-tailored virtual health educators evaluated with rural and minority populations.