Saba Kheirinejad

Saba Kheirinejad

Postdoctoral Fellow and UX Researcher at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC)

LinkedIn Google Scholar GitHub
Home Publications Projects

Hi, I'm Saba!

Background

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at The Population Health Intelligence Lab (PopHI-Lab) led by Associate Prof. Arash Shaban-Nejad at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). My research focuses on digital health and mobile health, with a particular emphasis on researching, designing, and developing innovative user interfaces and dashboards that enhance health system usability and effectiveness.

Previously, I pursued my PhD in Computer Science and Engineering at the Center for Ubiquitous Computing at the University of Oulu, under the supervision of Associate Prof. Simo Hosio. I had the privilege of being a visiting graduate scholar at the Tech4Good Lab, led by Assistant Prof. David Lee, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, during 2023 and 2024. Before that, I had the privilege of being a visiting PhD student at Media Informatics and Human-Computer Interaction Groups at LMU Munich, Germany under the supervision of Prof. Albrecht Schmidt, and Assistant Prof. Sven Mayer, during 2022.

I'm deeply passionate about Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and love exploring how people interact with technology. Whether it's through numbers or stories, I enjoy using both quantitative and qualitative research methods to uncover insights.

Research interests: Human-Computer Interaction, User Experience Research, Mobile Health, Data Analysis, AI, and Social Computing.

Current Projects

  • Exploring the Impact of Emotional Awareness in AI-Driven Chatbots on Human Interaction.
  • Exploring Communal Gratitude in Online Communities.

News

  • April 13, 2025: Attended the third annual Bay Area HCI gathering at UC Berkeley.
  • April 1, 2025: I began working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the PopHI Lab at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC).
  • Dec 5, 2024: Attended the 2nd Annual UCSC Computational Media Industry Advisory Board Meeting at the UCSC Silicon Valley Campus in Santa Clara.
  • Dec 3, 2024: Gave a talk at the UCSC Computational Media group at UCSC Silicon Valley Campus, Santa Clara.
  • Nov 15, 2024: Defended my PhD thesis on November 15, 2024! Hooray, I’m officially a doctor now! 😊
  • Oct 21-23, 2024: Attended the 2024 Halfway to the Future Symposium in Santa Cruz, California.