UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) has announced that Guodong Liu, professor of public health sciences, is the inaugural winner of the Lloyd Prize for Innovative Health Research.
Liu is in the division of health services and behavioral research with joint appointments as professor of neurology, pediatrics, psychiatry and behavioral health at the Penn State College of Medicine. He is also the director of the Center for Applied Studies in Health Economics (CASHE).
His project "Psychometric Assessments via an AI-Powered Conversational Journal: Transforming Measurement-Based Care for Mood and Anxiety Disorders" aims to develop a framework of continuous mental health assessment that leverages generative artificial intelligence (AI) to collect and derive patients' mental health status more frequently and conveniently than traditional methods.
“The goal of the project is to develop a conversational digital assessment for patients living with mental illnesses, which, if successful, would help modernize psychiatry further and improve the practice in mental health care,” Liu said.
The Lloyd Prize is funded by an endowment of more than $500,000 for an annual prize that includes funds for salary and research support. Lloyd was a faculty member of the College of Medicine from 1975 to 2021, spanning a 46-year career. His philanthropy reflects his value of lifelong learning and his determination to try to make the world a better place.
The Lloyd Prize will rotate through the following colleges at Penn State annually: the College of Medicine, the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing, the College of Health and Human Development, the Eberly College of Science, the College of Engineering, the College of Information Sciences and Technology, the College of the Liberal Arts, and the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
“I’m thrilled that Dr. Lloyd has chosen to work with SSRI to facilitate this prize and expand the reach of potential new ideas for health research,” said Deborah Ehrenthal, director of SSRI. “We’re also excited for Dr. Liu to continue his critical research on mental health care with this funding.”
Visit SSRI’s website for more information or subscribe to SSRI’s biweekly newsletter for updates. SSRI enables and facilitates research that addresses critical human and social challenges at the local, national, and international levels. The institute supports over 60 co-funded faculty positioned within nine colleges and over 500 faculty across nine campuses via its affiliate program and various funding mechanisms.