The ACCESS Lab

At the ACCESS Lab, we envision a world where every child has early access to needed substance use and mental health interventions. Early intervention necessitates that we identify adolescents at risk early and deliver evidence-based accessible and engaging interventions. As such, we focus on developing, testing and implementing digital interventions for 1) substance use risk identification and 2) substance use prevention among adolescents.

Substance use risk identification among adolescents: We are conducting research investigating the utility of complex data sources such as electronic health records data and digital software such as games to identify adolescents at risk for substance use using machine learning and other statistical approaches.

Substance use prevention among adolescents: We conduct research that focuses on developing, testing and implementing digital interventions to prevent substance use among adolescents. Because the family is the central socializing unit in a child’s life, we are particularly interested in family-based digital interventions and conducting research that scales access to effective family-centered interventions.

Our mission is to improve access to care for every adolescent in need of substance use and mental health interventions. We are also committed to developing and implementing culturally-informed interventions that address racial/ethnic health care disparities.

• NIDA – National Institute on Drug Abuse
• CTBH – Center for Technology and Behavioral Health
• Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
• NIH AIM-AHEAD – National Institutes of Health Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium
• Yale Child Study Center
• Yale Center for Clinical Investigation