Abhishek Pratap

Over the last 12 years, Dr. Pratap has worked across a wide spectrum of biomedical research domains: from assessing genetic interactions to capturing people’s lived experiences of diseases. He has been involved in various national and international research projects, and most recently held the position of Principal Scientist, Digital Health at Sage Bionetworks where he led the deployment of many real world studies to evaluate long-term disease trajectories specifically in neurological and psychiatric ailments. Prior to sage Dr. Pratap worked at the Department of Energy’s (DOE), Lawrence Berkeley, National Lab working and Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland leading the management and analysis of terabytes of biomedical omics data.

Dr. Pratap has a Ph.D. from the University of Washington in Biomedical Health Informatics with a focus on digital mental health, a graduate certificate in bioinformatics from Standard University. He completed his master’s in engineering management (Computer Science) from University of Maryland, Baltimore Country and an undergraduate degree in bioinformatics from VIT University, India.

Recent Publications

1. L Omberg, E C. Neto, T. M. Perumal, A. Pratap, A Tediarjo, J Adams, B R. Bloem, B M. Bot, M Elson, S M.
Goldman, M R. Kellen, K Kieburtz, A Klein, M A. Little, R Schneider, C Suver, C Tarolli, C M. Tanner, A D. Trister,
J Wilbanks, E. Dorsey & L M. Mangravite - “Remote smartphone monitoring of Parkinson’s disease and
individual response to therapy”, Nature Biotechnology (2021) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-021-00974-9
2. Areán PA*, Pratap A*, Hsin H, Huppert TK, Hendricks KE, Heagerty PJ, Cohen T, Bagge C, Comtois KA -
“Perceived Utility and Characterization of Personal Google Search Histories to Detect Data Patterns Proximal
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to a Suicide Attempt in Individuals Who Previously Attempted Suicide: Pilot Cohort Study” J Med Internet Res
2021;23(5):e27918 (*equal contribution)
3. A. Pratap, D. Grant, A. Vegesna, M. Tummalacherla, S. Cohan, C. Deshpande, L Mangravite, L Omberg -
“Evaluating the Utility of Smartphone-Based Sensor Assessments in Persons with Multiple Sclerosis in the
Real-World: elevateMS Study”, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, Oct 2020;8(10):e22108
4. P A. Areán, E C. Friedman, A Pratap, R Allred, J Duffy, S Gille, S Reetz, E Keast, G Clarke - “Using Real-World
Data for Decision Support: Recommendations from a Primary Care Provider Survey” , The Permanente
Journal, Oct 2020
5. S Deering, A Pratap, C Suver, A. J Borelli Jr., A Amdur, W Headapohl, C J. Stepnowsky - “Real-world longitudinal
data collected from the SleepHealth mobile app study”, Nature Scientific Data, Oct 2020
6. A Pratap, S Steinhubl, E Chaibub Neto, S W. Wegerich, C Tara Peterson, L Weiss, S Patel, D Chopra and P J
Mills - “Changes in Continuous, Long-Term Heart Rate Variability and Individualized Physiologic Responses to
Wellness and Vacation Interventions Using a Wearable Sensor” Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, June
2020 https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2020.00120
7. E. S. Izmailova 1 , J. A. Wagner , N. Ammour, N. Amondikar, A. B. Vlasov, S. Berman, D. Bloomfield, L. S. Brady,
X. Cai, R. A. Calle, M. Campbell, F. Cerreta, I. Clay, L. Foschini, P. Furlong, R Goldel, J. S. Goldsack, P.M.A.
Groenen, A. Folarin, J. Heemskerk, P. Honig, M. Hotopf, T. Kamphaus, D. Karlin, C. Leptak, Q. Liu, H. Manji, R.
J. Mather, J. P. Menetski, V. A. Narayan, E. Papadopoulos, B. Patel, B. Lake, J. Podichetty, A. Pratap, E. Ramos,
M. Raymond, L. Servais, D. Stephenson, P. Tenaerts, B. J. Tromberg, S. Usdin, S. Vasudevan, V. Zipunnikov, S.
C. Hoffmann - “Remote Digital Monitoring for Medical Product Development: digital monitoring in clinical
trials Journal” Clinical and Translational Science, July 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/cts.12851
8. S Kolovson, A Pratap, Sean Munson and Pat Arean - “Understanding Participant Needs for Engagement and
Attitudes towards Passive Sensing in Remote mHealth Studies” Pervasive Health, 2020
9. A Pratap, E Neto, P Snyder, C Stepnowsky, N Elhadad, D Grant, M Mohebbi, S Mooney, C Suver, J Wilbanks,
L Mangravite, P Heagerty, P Arean, L Omberg - Indicators of retention in remote digital health studies: A crossstudy evaluation of 100,000 participants - Nature Digital Medicine 2020 npj Digit. Med. 3, 21
(2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-0224-8
10. A. Pratap , R Allred , J Duffy , D Rivera , H Lee , B Renn , P Areán - Contemporary Views of Research Participant
Willingness to Participate and Share Digital Data in Biomedical Research - JAMA Network Open,
2019 2019;2(11):e1915717

Awards and Honours

Team Science Award - 2017, Children’s Tumor Foundation, New York

Research Interests

My lab focuses on understanding the individualized real-world experience of mental health by developing people-centered AI & digital tech-enabled solutions. We also assess ways in which technology can be optimally deployed in the real world that is what works for whom, when and for how long. Our Lab focuses on 4 key research areas.

Digital biomarkers:
Development of novel clinical-grade digital biomarkers/endpoints of real-world symptoms, severity, and triggers of mental health

Personalized health trajectories:
Understand how an individuals’ unique day-to-day experience can help inform their mental health care needs and management

Bias in digital mental health:
Quantify how biases due to digital divide, lack of diversity and data privacy could impact the future of inclusive digital mental health

Clinical utility of AI and Tech:
Explore the modular ecosystem needed for using AI-informed workflows in mental health care, including open standards for integrating real world data into electronic health records

Grants

Krembil Foundation 5/1/2021-4/31/2026
To support Dr. Pratap’s independent research and the establishment of a new digital health and AI
research lab for the first five years which will enable the funding of several Ph.D., postdoctoral
students and full-time staff.
Role: Principal Investigator
R01 MH123484 04/01/2021 – 03/31/2024 National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Using Search Engine Data for Detection and Early Intervention in Suicide Prevention
Using a case-crossover design, we will identify and evaluate proximal risk factors in search-engine
behavior; that is, patterns that change at the time of suicidal behavior or increases in suicidal ideation
and use Human Centered Design to develop ethical, feasible, and acceptable intervention responses
that can be deployed immediately when suicide risk is high.
Role:CAMH – Site PI
SCC Planning Grant 01/10/2020 – 09/30/2021
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Building capacity for data-driven interventions in communities with depression and obesity hotspots
Role:Co- Investigator
Past
U2COD023198 Topol (PI) 7/1/16-6/31/21
NIH
Technology to Empower Changes in Health (TECH) Network Participant Technologies Center
The TECH Network’s Participant TechnologiesCenter will work closely with the PMI steering
committee and the study participants to development an innovative, member-centric, engaging, and
secure digital network that is state-of-art today, and by design, sustainably so over ensuing years and
decades.
Role: Co-Investigator
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U2CAG060426 Gershon (PI) 7/1/18 – 6/30/23

NIA
The Mobile Toolbox for Monitoring Cognitive Function
Sage Bionetworks will be responsible for development and maintenance of the MobileToolbox research
platform including the cognitive assessment library, the clinical study manager tool, the backend
services for study rollout and data collection, the MobileToolbox Application in iOS and Android, and
the public data and tool repository
Role: Co-Investigator
1U2CAG060408 Sliwinski (PI) 9/15/18-6/30/23
NIH
M2C2 Project
Sage Bionetworks will be responsible for assisting PSU M2C2 team in integrating applications and
measures into the Sage technology stack. This will enable data management and dissemination
through the Mobile Toolbox program: The Mobile Repository.
Role: Co-Investigator
No number assigned Omberg (PI) 7/1/17-3/31/19
Novartis
elevateMS Mobile App
Sage aims and objectives included designing, developing and analyzing data from a mobile application
for people with multiple sclerosis.
Role: Co-Investigator
U01HL099997 Aronow (PI) 5/1/13-4/30/18
NIH/NHLBI
Title: Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium Bioinformatics Core (“PCBC”)
The goal of this project is to form a unified bioinformatics portal to allow all researchers from the PCBC
consortium to gain immediate data access to raw, processed, and interpreted data generated from the
Cell Characterization Core, individual consortium members laboratories, and additional data from a
wealth of other sources that is relevant for understanding and exploiting the biology of human
progenitor cells.
Role: Co-Investigator