Cincinnati Business Courier: App to help cope with COVID-19

UC, Cincinnati Children's experts create an app to help those experiencing pandemic-induced anxiety.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center announced the launch of a new smartphone app that uses artificial intelligence-powered chat bots to engage users in conversations about their mental health. The app was created in partnership with experts from the University of Cincinnati and Wysa, a digital behavioral health platform developer.

John, Pestian, PhD, a Cincinnati Children's expert in developing natural language processing and machine learning tools to address mental health concerns, helped create the app with Michael Sorter, MD, director of Cincinnati Children's Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Jeffrey Strawn, MD, an anxiety expert in the University of Cincinnati's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience.

Read the full Business Courier story.

This story was also covered by the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Read more about the app on UC News.

Featured photo of Jeffrey Strawn, MD, by Colleen Kelley/UC Creative + Brand.

Impact Lives Here

The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.

Stay up on all UC's COVID-19 stories, read more #UCtheGood content, or take a UC virtual visit and begin picturing yourself at an institution that inspires incredible stories.

Related Stories

1

Putting preschool into perspective

July 20, 2026

Preschool and childcare can be difficult to navigate for parents, as Spectrum News 1 Ohio recently reported. Waitlists are long, and factors like cost, location and transportation can limit options. According to a recent study published by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, only 41% of 3- to 4-year-olds in Ohio were enrolled in preschool between 2020 and 2024 — a 4% decrease from pre-pandemic numbers. For University of Cincinnati early childhood education faculty member Chad Nunamaker, that statistic has caveats.

2

Ticks that survive pesticides can withstand colder winters

July 17, 2026

Ticks that survive less-than-lethal doses of pesticide are able to withstand dangerous cold, which could help them expand their range farther north, according to researchers at the University of Cincinnati and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.