Welcome to Damien Lekkas, PhD, Research Assistant Professor

March 20, 2025

We are thrilled to welcome Damien Lekkas, PhD, who joins the faculty of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Medical Social Sciences (MSS) as a Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Intervention Science.

An accomplished scholar, Lekkas holds a PhD in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences from Dartmouth College; a MS in Bioinformatics from the University of the Sciences; and a MS in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to starting his position as Research Assistant Professor, Lekkas recently completed his PhD working with Nicholas C. Jacobson, PhD at Dartmouth College’s Center for Technology and Behavioral Health.

Lekkas’ research explores how digital information collected from smartphones, wearable devices, and engagement with the internet can be leveraged to better model and understand mental health-related constructs.  Methodologically, he is interested in applications of network analysis, natural language processing, and machine learning to model large-scale, multi-modal data. He is enthusiastic about developing and testing novel approaches to parse digitally-derived behavioral data and is particularly motivated by a desire to leverage cutting-edge computational techniques toward the improvement of mental health outcomes and treatment access for all. His dissertation work focused on leveraging digital data streams to quantitatively model the public and private aspects of suicidal thought and behavior (STB); however, he is broadly interested in employing quantitative approaches to better understand and treat mental illness. To this end, he will be working closely with Jessica Schleider, PhD and other researchers at the Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies (CBITs) on projects within the digital mental health intervention (DMHI) space.

While at Dartmouth, Lekkas helped to establish the groundwork for collecting, processing, and analyzing multi-modal data derived from a large, NIMH-funded study (Tracking Depression) which focused on the collection of passive sensing data from smartphones and wearable devices to predict rapid changes in major depressive disorder symptoms.

During his PhD, he led and supported a wide array of projects within psychology and digital mental health, including those that have directly leveraged the rich data collected through Tracking Depression. Thus far, this has resulted in >20 articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, as well as several others currently in write-up and under review.     

“Given my background as a researcher in digital mental health, as well as the breadth and depth of ongoing work at the Lab for Scalable Mental Health and CBITs as a whole, MSS was the perfect fit for my research interests and professional goals. The faculty have such a rich diversity of research foci that span the spectrum of mental health—I very much look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with others in the department!”

In his new role, he is most excited by the opportunity to work with a world-class research team and help to improve the delivery, accessibility, and assessment of digital mental health interventions. We look forward to the contributions Lekkas will make in advancing equity, innovation, and impact in health, both through his research and as a valued member of our community. Welcome Damien Lekkas!