I’m Nikita — a UX Researcher & Designer who is curious about the why.
Background
I started as a research assistant in the Dunsmoor Lab for Learning, Memory, and Emotion at Dell Medical School, working with populations ranging from healthy individuals to those with PTSD. Watching how differently their cognitive function diverged from neurotypical individuals got me asking how technology could account for differences like that, and a “Neuroscience of Emotions” class showed me an answer: a gamified app that reduced anxiety in trait-anxious adults through attention bias modification training. That was the class that pointed me toward UX.
I’m now a part-time medical assistant at an internal medicine practice, rooming and triaging patients, placing CGMs and pulling CGM data, running DEXA scans, and handling prior authorizations. It’s given me a firsthand look at clinician and patient workflows, including the workarounds staff build around outdated EHRs that are too costly to replace. Those are the kind of problems I want to research and design for.
Approach
My neuroscience training gives me a foundation for asking questions about cognition and human behavior. My business minor keeps me grounded in why it matters to the organization. UX research is the method I use to test both.
Focus
Healthcare and digital health, from clinical workflows to digital therapeutics. I’ve watched staff at the practice where I work build workarounds around an EHR everyone agrees is outdated, because switching it out costs more than living with it. The disconnect between what a system is supposed to do and what people actually do with it is where cognitive differences and clunky systems alike go undesigned for.
Education & what’s next
M.S. in Information (UX Research & Design / Human-computer Interaction), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
B.S. Neuroscience, Business Minor, University of Texas, Austin.
Looking for research-leaning roles in healthcare, digital health therapeutics, and mobile health products.
Outside work
I’m in the gym most nights working toward a new lift PR. I enjoy hiking, sketching portraits and figures, and spending time in nature.
Big fan of the show The OA. Near-death experience, consciousness, all the stuff neuroscience left unanswered for me.
