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Kat Houghton PhD
Bringing Innovative Technology to Behavioral Research
Katherine (Kat) Houghton, Ph.D., is the Co-Founder and Chief Clinical Officer of ilumivu, a company she established in 2009 alongside Mark Tuomenoksa. The organization focuses on supporting families dealing with autism by developing innovative software solutions that enhance behavioral interventions and empower parents in their children's development. Kat's work emphasizes the use of wearable sensors and mobile tracking to improve the well-being of children with autism, making evidence-based interventions accessible to underserved communities.14
Under her leadership, ilumivu has become a prominent platform in the clinical research market, with over 70 health systems and research universities utilizing its services for various studies. Kat is also involved in individual work with adults and leads retreats and wilderness rites of passage in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.126
In addition to her role at ilumivu, Kat is recognized for her contributions to the field of psychology and mental health, often speaking on integrating technology with psychological practices.357
Highlights
I co-founded ilumivu in 2009 because I watched the families I worked with struggling to collect, integrate and make sense of their daily observations of their children with Autism. Today, fifteen years later, the heart of the company remains the same, although our scope has broadened considerably. Mental health researchers are working every day to help people live better lives.
Our goal at ilumivu is to handle all the tech so researchers can focus on what they do best. I'm excited to share with you some of the updates to the mEMA System we have been working on.
Mobile Cognitive Testing: Way Beyond Self-Report
Psychologists have relied of self-report for over 100 years! It can be helpful but as a research methodology it leaves a lot out of the picture. There's so much more to learn about what is going on for our study participants and patients at any given moment.
Not only does the mEMA System provide state of the art Ecological Momentary Assessment data seamlessly integrated with physiological data but we just upgraded our battery of mobile cognitive tests. Adding mobile cognitive tests provides:
Real-time assessment of memory, attention, cognitive load, etc Test presented in their natural environment, not in the lab You control the timing Millisecond timestamped data easily integrated with other streams
We have a growing library of mobile cognitive tests you can plug into your mobile EMA study. If you don't see the ones you want listed we can likely add it. Just book a time to talk to Ray Salm, he can help you get answers quickly. https://ilumivu.com/book/
We don't remember well! Especially when it comes to our own inner states. Yet psychology research has often relied on retrospective self-report measures to figure out what people are experiencing.
Do you remember how you felt last week or month? I'm not sure I can remember how I felt yesterday with any accuracy.
We don't need to do that anymore! Our phones are available to ask us at any point throughout the day what is going on. And we have wearable devices to capture our physiological state.
Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) or Experience Sampling has been used in psychology research since the 1940s, emerging from a recognition of the accuracy limitations of recall. Back then they used a clock and a notebook, later we started using pagers. Remember them?
Time for an update?
#healthtech #healthtechrevolution #healthtechinnovation #psychologyresearch #mentalhealth
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
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