On June 4, 2026, the Digital Health Measurement Collaborative Community (DATAcc) by the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) released a new core set of digital measures intended to cultivate shared standards for the use of digital sensing in mental health research and care.
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DGC Co-Director Michelle Craske, PhD, was featured in a May 6, 2026, Washington Post article about positive affect treatment, a therapy designed to target anhedonic depression, a severe type of depression.
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The DGC has launched a new study portal featuring research studies currently open for recruitment. The portal serves as a centralized hub for visitors to browse active studies, learn more about individual studies, and sign up to get notified of future studies through the UCLA Depression Research Registry.
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The DGC has completed data collection for the National Digital Mental Health Study, conducted in collaboration with Apple, a nationwide research effort designed to better understand how symptoms of depression and anxiety may be measured using data from everyday digital devices.
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DGC Director Nelson Freimer, MD, participated in a summit centered on the launch of a new UCLA mental health initiative, Hope Connects Us. The initiative aims to expand prevention and early support resources, strengthen the coordination of campus mental health services, and ensure effective care for students in crisis.
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Veronica Tozzo, PhD, a researcher with the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge, has been awarded funding by the Huo Family Foundation to study how patterns of smartphone and smartwatch use relate to depression and anxiety in young adults.
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The UCLA Depression Grand Challenge’s 2025 Year in Review, was shared with newsletter subscribers by DGC Director Nelson Freimer, MD on Dec. 24, 2025. Freimer’s message celebrated ten years of the DGC’s mission to cut the burden of depression on human health and well-being in half by 2050, and overviewed updates on the following:
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DGC Director Nelson Freimer, Co-Director Michelle Craske, and DGC-affiliated faculty Loes Olde Loohuis will be presenting as keynotes and panelist at the 4th annual Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Symposium on Precision Mental Health in Los Angeles and Beyond, hosted by the UCLA Institute for Precision Health on January 23, 2026.
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UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk delivered the meeting’s opening remarks, affirming his confidence in the Depression Grand Challenge’s mission and underscoring the importance of sustaining ambitious, public-impact research amid recent disruptions to federal funding.
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Two UCLA Depression Grand Challenge researchers have been named among the world’s most influential scholars in the sciences and social sciences: Michelle Craske, PhD, DGC co-director and creator of the STAND system of care; and Elaine Hsiao, PhD, director of the UCLA Goodman–Luskin Microbiome Center and an expert on the ways in which the gut microbiome influences neurobiology.
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