Todd Germaine Reid

Biography

Dr. Todd G. Reid is an epidemiologist, technologist, and researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the MIT Media Lab whose work focuses on developing AI-enabled research ecosystems that accelerate scientific discovery and improve human health. His research integrates digital phenotyping, machine learning, and network science to create systems that collect and coordinate the data, expertise, and resources required for complex scientific collaboration. A core component of this work is the development of smartphone-based digital phenotyping platforms that serve as a data foundation of these ecosystems. Building on nearly two decades of experience with large-scale cohort studies at Harvard Medical School, including the Nurses' Health Studies, Dr. Reid has designed and deployed mobile applications that capture real-time behavioral and environmental data across populations in the U.S., Brazil, and sub-Saharan Africa. These platforms integrate active and passive data collection to enable continuous, longitudinal measurement of mental health and related risk factors for chronic disease across the lifespan, particularly in vulnerable populations. These data streams are integrated with AI-driven collaboration and coordination systems that enable scientific discovery at scale.

Building on this approach, Dr. Reid has led the development of platforms such as Harvard HUMA.I.N, which uses AI to map expertise networks and actively coordinate collaboration among researchers and policy experts using AI across Harvard's schools, hospitals, and affiliated institutions, enabling more integrated and effective interdisciplinary work. In parallel, he has developed Boston Children's Hospital's DoPpler to extend this same infrastructure into the funding domain, analyzing funding ecosystems to help investigators identify opportunities, form collaborative teams, and align research efforts with emerging scientific priorities. Across these efforts, Dr. Reid's work explores how artificial intelligence can function as coordination infrastructure for modern science, transforming how research communities organize discovery, reducing structural barriers in science and medicine, and accelerating the translation of scientific insights into improved population health. Reid's contributions include co-authoring the World Innovation Summit on Health (WISH) report on Big Data and Health, teaching Data-Driven Health at MIT, and developing open data commons platforms that have enabled widespread access to mobile health datasets for research and training.

Education and Training

• Postdoctoral Training, Social Physics and Computational Public Health
  Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Media Lab
• MBA, Sloan Fellow, Global Leadership and Innovation
  MIT
• ScD, Nutrition Epidemiology
  Harvard University, T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• MPH, Global Health Policy
  Harvard University, T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• MSc, Infectious Disease
  Harvard University, T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• BA, Biology, French, Chemistry
  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Publications

• Refining a digital phenotyping app for measurement of suicidal behavior among minoritized youth and caregivers in a community health system.

  Carson NJ, Cortés DE, Williams P, Odayar V, Gonzalez L, Schlossberg E, Xie L, Holmes KE, Holmes MD, Williams DR, Reid TG. Mhealth 2026

  PMID: 40248750

• Politically related stress and low-birth-weight infants among Arab, Asian, Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White women in Michigan.

  Dallo FJ, Williams DR, Ruterbusch JJ, Mittleman MA, Sakyi KS, Mostofsky E, Rimawi A, Qu X, Reid TG, Schwartz K. Womens Health (Lond) 2023 Jan-Dec

  PMID: 37449491

• Neighborhood greenness and burden of non-communicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: A multi-country cross-sectional study.

  Iyer HS, James P, Valeri L, Bajunirwe F, Nankya-Mutyoba J, Njelekela M, Chiwanga F, Sewram V, Ajayi I, Adebamowo C, Dalal S, Reid TG, Rebbeck TR, Adami HO, Holmes MD. Environ Res 2021 05

  PMID: 33130166

• Can an Emoji a Day Keep the Doctor Away? An Explorative Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study to Develop a Self-Help App for Youth With Mental Health Problems.

  Van Dam L, Rietstra S, Van der Drift E, Stams GJJM, Van der Mei R, Mahfoud M, Popma A, Schlossberg E, Pentland A, Reid TG. Front Psychiatry 2026

  PMID: 31507464

• Consumption of processed food dietary patterns in four African populations.

  Holmes MD, Dalal S, Sewram V, Diamond MB, Adebamowo SN, Ajayi IO, Adebamowo C, Chiwanga FS, Njelekela M, Laurence C, Volmink J, Bajunirwe F, Nankya-Mutyoba J, Guwatudde D, Reid TG, Willett WC, Adami HO, Fung TT. Public Health Nutr 2018 06

  PMID: 29388531