Our Team: Jana Haritatos, Ph.D.
Jana Haritatos, Ph.D.
Director of Research Operations
Dr. Jana Haritatos is responsible for the overseeing the design and management of research operations at HopeLab, including identification of key research questions based on literature review and needs assessment activities, translation of research objectives into study designs and protocols, management of research partnerships, and compliance with local, state, federal and international regulations and guidelines relevant to HopeLab’s research portfolio. She also manages HopeLab’s research staff in the administration, data collection and analysis of results from formal quantitative studies and qualitative research projects.
At HopeLab, Dr. Haritatos has led extensive qualitative user testing of HopeLab’s Re-Mission video game for teens and young adults with cancer to better understand the psychological experience characteristic of compelling game play. This work has provided insights now being incorporated into development of a new version of Re-Mission. Dr. Haritatos also leads HopeLab’s work to evaluate user feedback on Zamzee, an online rewards platform powered by physical activity. With her team, she manages the collection of user feedback from teens and the distillation of actionable insights for product development. Dr. Haritatos also manages HopeLab’s formative research activities in sickle-cell disease and major depressive disorder to identify trends in disease management and opportunities for intervention development in our target population of adolescents and young adults.
Prior to joining HopeLab, Dr. Haritatos completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Psychiatry in Psychology and Medicine. Dr. Haritatos received her doctorate in Psychology from the University of Michigan before joining UCSF, where her research focused on psychological and socio-cultural determinants of health in diverse populations. While serving as a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Haritatos conducted interdisciplinary research with the Center for Health and Community, the MacArthur Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health, and San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Haritatos has also served in a variety of teaching and research roles at the University of Michigan, including positions with the Institute of Research on Women & Gender, the Immigration & Health Research Group, and the Acculturation Stress and Mental Health Research Laboratory. Dr. Haritatos’s research has been published in a number of peer-reviewed academic journals, and has received foundation and federal grant funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the National Institute of Mental Health.
Photo credit: Liz Song
