Blanca S. Pineda, Ed.D
Director, Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health (i4Health)
Interim Director, MS in Psychology Program
External Research Lab Faculty
Contact
Biography
Blanca S. Pineda, Ed.D., is the Director of the Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health (i4Health) and Interim Director of the Master of Science in Psychology program. She is passionate about teaching and learning and leveraging the power of technology to improve research and educational outcomes. Her lab, Digital Health & Education Research (DHER), focuses on evaluating, developing, and disseminating digital tools to help improve health and educational outcomes. She is bilingual (English/Spanish) and conducts Digital Mental Health research in multiple languages when possible. She joined PAU in 2018.
Education
- EdD, Learning and Instruction, University of San Francisco
- MA, Interdisciplinary Education with Focus in STEEM (Science, Technology, Environmental Education, and Math), Santa Clara University
Areas of Expertise
- Technology and Mental Health
- Evaluation, development, and dissemination of digital tools for education and mental health
- How to use technology to improve educational and mental health outcomes
- User Experience Research
Publications
- Rivera-Cepeda, C. F., Pineda, B. S., Vaclavik, D., Bagner, D. M., Hardan, A. Y., Abadi, A., Mostovoy, K., & Bunge, E. L. (2026). Understanding Real World Data from a Group Parent Management Training Program Enhanced by Artificial Intelligence: A Qualitative Study (In Press). JMIR Formative Research. https://doi.org/10.2196/91841
- Cano, M. T., Perez, O. F. R., Reyes, S., Pineda, B., & Muñoz, R. F. (2025). Rethinking Smoking and Quitting in Low-Income Contexts: A Qualitative Analysis with Implications for Practice and Policy. IJERPH, 22(7), 1122. https://doi.org/10.3390/
ijerph22071122 - M. Roller, K., Snow, W., Grapa, J., Hernández, M., Consolí, A., Pineda, B., & Andrade, E. (2023). Estimating the Impact of Limited English Language Proficiency on Mental Health Services for Spanish Speakers in the United States. JNHMA, 1(2), 10–17. https://doi.org/10.59867/
nhma0202 - Pineda, B. S., Mejia, R., Qin, Y., Castro, J., Delgadillo, L. G., & Muñoz, R. F. (2023). Updated taxonomy of digital mental health interventions: A conceptual framework. mHealth, 23(6). https://doi.org/10.21037/
mhealth-23-6 - Bond, M. H., Bunge, E. L., Leykin, Y., Barrera, A. Z., Wickham, R. E., Barlow, M. R., Reyes, S., Pineda, B., Ceja, A. M., Cano, M., & Muñoz, R. F. (2021). Development and usability of a Spanish/English smoking cessation website: Lessons learned. mHealth, 7, 30–30. https://doi.org/10.21037/
mhealth-19-255 - Bunge, E. L., Pineda, B. S., Topooco, N., & Stephens, T. N. (2021). Editorial Introduction to Technological Approaches for the Treatment of Mental Health in Youth. Social Sciences, 10(12), 461. https://doi.org/10.3390/
socsci10120461 - Cano, M., Pennington, D., Reyes, S., Pineda, B., Llamas, J., Periyakoil, V., & Muñoz, R. (2021). Factors associated with smoking in low-income persons with and without chronic illness. Tob. Induc. Dis., 19(July), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.18332/tid/
138241 - Cuijpers, P., Pineda, B. S., Ng, M. Y., Weisz, J. R., Muñoz, R. F., Gentili, C., Quero, S., & Karyotaki, E. (2021). A Meta-analytic Review: Psychological Treatment of Subthreshold Depression in Children and Adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 60(9), 1072–1084. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jaac.2020.11.024 - Cuijpers, P., Pineda, B. S., Quero, S., Karyotaki, E., Struijs, S. Y., Figueroa, C. A., Llamas, J. A., Furukawa, T. A., & Muñoz, R. F. (2021). Psychological interventions to prevent the onset of depressive disorders: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Clinical Psychology Review, 83, 101955. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.
2020.101955 - Muñoz, R. F., Le, H.-N., Barrera, A. Z., & Pineda, B. S. (2021). Leading the charge toward a world without depression: Perinatal depression can be prevented. Arch Womens Ment Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/
s00737-021-01160-1 - Muñoz, R. F., Leykin, Y., Barrera, A. Z., Dunn, L. B., Gutierrez, R., Curland, R. A., & Pineda, B. S. (2021). Who comes to a self-help depression prevention website? Characteristics of Spanish- and English-speaking visitors. Internet Interventions, 23, 100359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
invent.2020.100359 - Muñoz, R. F., Pineda, B. S., Barrera, A. Z., Bunge, E., & Leykin, Y. (2021). Digital Tools for Prevention and Treatment of Depression: Lessons from the Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health. Clínica y Salud, 32(1), 37–40. https://doi.org/10.5093/
clysa2021a2 - Dosovitsky, G., Pineda, B. S., Jacobson, N. C., Chang, C., Escoredo, M., & Bunge, E. L. (2020). Artificial Intelligence Chatbot for Depression: Descriptive Study of Usage. JMIR Form Res, 4(11), e17065. https://doi.org/10.2196/17065
- Muñoz, R. F., Pineda, B. S., & Llamas, J. A. (2019). Indigeneity, diversity, and equity in Internet interventions: Could ISRII contribute to making health care a universal human right? Internet Interventions, 18, 100269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
invent.2019.100269