Gregory Kiar, PhD

Gregory Kiar, PhD, is the director of the Center for Data Analytics, Innovation, and Rigor (DAIR) at the Child Mind Institute, where he is also a research scientist on the senior scientist track. He leads a multidisciplinary team dedicated to advancing mental health research and clinical care through modern data science, software engineering, artificial intelligence, and rigorous analytical practices.

Dr. Kiar’s work bridges the gap between complex computational methods and actionable clinical insights. Much of his current research focuses on applied machine learning and natural language processing to better understand and support mental health. This includes building mental state modeling approaches derived from unstructured text and biometric data, as well as developing risk detection algorithms to identify early markers of distress. Dr. Kiar plays a leading role in translating these models into practice, driving the development of accessible, AI-driven digital public health tools, such as Ask Kai and Mirror, and clinician-facing technologies to streamline care.

A strong advocate for open science, Dr. Kiar addresses the critical challenge of privacy in medical research by generating synthetic datasets, allowing researchers to jointly analyze otherwise unshareable datasets. In an effort to further democratize science, he designs and runs large-scale data science competitions that crowdsource innovative solutions from the global scientific community.

Alongside his focus on applied AI and clinical tools, Dr. Kiar builds and supports neuroinformatics tools designed to improve the trustworthiness, transparency, and reproducibility of neuroimaging software. His contributions include developing turnkey tools to estimate brain connectivity maps, computational platforms to assess the numerical stability of neuroscience findings, and informatics engines that enable massive-scale brain imaging vibration (multiverse) analyses. By leading the development of domain-standard frameworks for tool descriptions such as Boutiques, NiWrap, and BIDS Apps, Dr. Kiar helps lower the barrier for researchers to conduct high-quality, scalable science.

• PhD, Biological and Biomedical Engineering, McGill University
• MSE, Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
• BEng, Biomedical and Electrical Engineering, Carleton University