Leveraging AI to decode human communication and distress, improving care, decision-making, and health outcomes
Samah Fodeh serves as Principal Investigator on multiple federally funded projects that use advanced computational methods to study how people think, communicate, and make meaning in healthcare settings. Her NIH/NCI–funded research examines patient–provider communication as a cognitive and social process, quantifying how language, understanding, and shared decision-making influence outcomes for individuals with metastatic cancer. In parallel, her PCORI-funded work applies machine learning to analyze patient-generated narratives, capturing the patient’s voice to better understand perceptions, values, and goals that shape health-related behavior. She is also a Co-PI on an international grant to study suicide risk by developing predictive models from crisis hotline audio data, using speech and language signals to identify cognitive and emotional markers of acute distress. Fodeh is also Co–Principal Investigator on the NIH Common Fund’s Bridge2AI Program, a highly interdisciplinary effort that integrates artificial intelligence, clinical science, and human-centered data to accelerate discovery and advance human potential in medicine.
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Biography
Fodeh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine and the Yale School of Public Health, working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, clinical informatics, and patient-centered outcomes research. Since joining Yale, her work has focused on using computational methods to study patient–provider communication, patient-generated data, suicide risk, and AI-driven tools to improve care quality and decision-making. Fodeh is committed to interdisciplinary collaboration and mentoring trainees.