Sachin Pendse is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine (Division of Clinical Informatics and Digital Transformation) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). His research investigates the role of societal marginalization and technology design in how people engage with mental health technologies, towards designing interventions that prioritize cultural validity and user autonomy by design. Sachin’s work also explores how sharing experiences of distress across identity-based lines online might support peace and reconciliation processes within polarized societies. Prior to joining UCSF, Sachin was trained as a T32 National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Mental Health at Northwestern University, and received his PhD in Human-Centered Computing from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Alongside his academic research, Sachin also has nearly a decade of experience serving as a peer mental health advocate at several mental health advocacy organizations.