Benjamin Buck, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences University of Washington School of Medicine Ben Buck, Ph.D., is the Principle Investigator in the development and testing of the mobile app, NORTH. He received funding to undertake this project from the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health). Dr. Buck has longstanding interest and expertise in leveraging technological innovation to better reach, engage, and treat young adults with mental health challenges. He is committed to combining his training in clinical psychology and UCD (User-Centered Design) improve mental health services. In addition to his program of research, Dr. Buck is committed to clinical supervision and training. He is currently leading one of the first clinical training sequences for community mental health clinicians learning to serve as mHealth support specialists for clients with serious mental illness. He has been previously recognized as a clinical trainer, as he was the first-ever student winner of UNC’s David Galinsky Award, an honor recognizing excellence in clinical supervision that had previously only ever been won by faculty. He is active in providing supervision in cognitive behavior therapy to third-year psychiatry residents at UW. In his free time, Dr. Buck enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, spending time with his family, and watching Jeopardy! on live TV.
Erica Whiting, BS
Research Coordinator, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences University of Washington School of Medicine Erica is a research coordinator for the BRiTE Center, and currently manages the day-to-day operations of the mHealth for Early Psychosis Program. These studies develop and test mobile health interventions to support young people experiencing psychosis connect to treatment, as well as to aid their caregivers to further help reduce the duration of untreated psychosis. Erica graduated with a BS in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan. They have undergraduate experience researching social perception and reward processing in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder, which has contributed to their interest in serious mental illness. Erica then went on to join the Peace Corps, where she taught English as a second language in a secondary education school in Ukraine. She served as a member of the AmeriCorps as well and worked to increase the number of college students completing their degrees. While service and education equity are important to Erica, research and psychology remain their main passion. They are grateful to be part of the BRiTE Center! Outside of work, Erica can be found continuing their ambitious goal of ranking the coffee shops in Seattle, or taking nature walks with the hope of spotting some frogs.
Feel free to email us if you have questions about this study at mhtech@uw.edu. We will get back to you as soon as possible.