By Sharon Mozgai, Director, Virtual Human Therapeutics Lab
At the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies (USC ICT), the Virtual Human Therapeutics Lab (VHTL) is at the forefront of developing virtual human technology with a singular purpose—delivering measurable impact on mental health, resilience, and human well-being. As Director of VHTL, I lead a mission-driven team that turns emerging technologies into practical tools for real-world challenges. Our research isn’t just theoretical; it’s operational, scalable, and increasingly vital in a digital age where human connection needs to be redefined.
Our work spans emotionally intelligent virtual agents, immersive simulations for mental health support, and AI-driven wellness platforms. These aren’t experiments—they’re platforms built with discipline, rigor, and purpose. At the core of our success is our commitment to developing the next generation of leaders in this field, creating an environment where exceptional talent can flourish and make meaningful contributions to cutting-edge research.
A Track Record of Excellence: Where Our Alumni Thrive
The true measure of any research lab lies not just in its publications or prototypes, but in the careers it launches and the professionals it develops. VHTL has become a launching pad for exceptional talent, with our alumni now driving innovation at leading technology companies and research institutions.
Tanmay Rode, now a software engineer at Google, was a graduate research assistant at VHTL while studying for his Master’s in computer science at Viterbi School of Engineering. He detailed his experience in this essay, showing how this research post enabled him to move beyond theoretical competence and apply engineering principles to domains with direct human impact.
Akshil Shah, now an engineer at Meta, exemplifies the caliber of professionals we develop. He came to us with strong foundational skills in Python, C++, and Java, along with certifications in AWS, Oracle, and Flutter. At VHTL, he refined those skills through real-world applications—building NLP pipelines, contributing to emotionally adaptive agents, and working under the pressure of production-grade development. His trajectory to Meta reflects both his exceptional abilities and the rigorous training environment we provide.
Pranav Kulkarni, now at Samsung Research America (SRA), brought expertise in XR and immersive development that proved invaluable to our mission. During his time at VHTL, he was instrumental in prototyping and iterating on high-performance immersive software. His unique ability to blend creative insight with engineering discipline made him an indispensable contributor to our most ambitious projects. Today, he’s redefining how digital interfaces interact with human cognition at one of the world’s leading technology companies.
Spencer Lin has made significant contributions to the field of embodied companion AI agents, work that began during his collaboration with our lab. His insights into how AI agents can provide meaningful companionship and support have influenced both academic discourse and practical applications in therapeutic technology. His continued success demonstrates the lasting impact of the research foundations built at VHTL.
Parisa G. Torshizi has pushed the boundaries of how virtual humans communicate through her groundbreaking work on language models with body language. Her research on advancing gesture selection for virtual humans represents exactly the kind of interdisciplinary innovation that VHTL fosters—combining computational linguistics with human behavioral understanding to create more natural and effective virtual interactions.
These success stories aren’t coincidental—they’re the result of a deliberate approach to developing talent within a high-performance research environment.
Infrastructure for Innovation
At VHTL, we provide more than mentorship—we offer world-class infrastructure and professional-grade experience. Our team members gain access to high-compute gaming machines and work within advanced simulation environments. They are onboarded into professional toolchains including Unity, Git, Python-based ML frameworks, and our custom software stacks for real-time virtual human deployment.
This is not a classroom—it’s a lab with real deliverables and measurable impact. Our team writes production code, runs experiments, troubleshoots real-time systems, and publishes peer-reviewed research. Several team members have co-authored papers at prestigious venues such as CHI and IVA, while others have demonstrated their work at high-profile academic and defense showcases.
We maintain the highest professional standards because we believe in treating emerging professionals as exactly that—professionals. This approach has consistently produced exceptional results and career outcomes.
Recognition and Leadership Philosophy
Effective leadership doesn’t just manage—it empowers and develops. Recently, I was honored to receive the ESGR Patriot Award, nominated by a VHTL team member who also serves in the National Guard. The award—now displayed in ICT’s lobby—recognizes civilian supervisors who go beyond expectations in supporting Guard and Reserve personnel.
Leadership is also about foresight and creating sustainable pathways for growth. I’ve shaped VHTL not just to produce quality research, but to be a leadership engine—one that molds future scientists and engineers with rigor and purpose. Drawing on my academic and research training from Harvard University, New York University, Harvard Business School, and MIT, I work to infuse our lab with discipline across multiple domains: psychology, computational modeling, NLP, and immersive technology.
The Road Ahead: Building the Future of Human-AI Interaction
We’re building toward a future where emotionally intelligent systems can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with human practitioners—augmenting care, scaling support, and delivering measurable outcomes, as detailed in our recent paper: Ensuring Safety, Ethics, and Efficacy: Best Practices for AI Conversational Agents in Healthcare.
To bring this work into practice, our current research portfolio includes:
Emotionally adaptive agents for mental health triage and coaching that can recognize and respond to human emotional states in real-time.
Immersive simulations for anxiety and trauma management that provide safe, controlled environments for therapeutic intervention.
Real-time AI-human hybrid systems that personalize interactions based on biometric and behavioral cues, creating truly responsive and adaptive support platforms.
These systems are research-ready but engineered with end users firmly in mind. The exceptional professionals who work with us are integral to these breakthroughs, contributing everything from core algorithmic development to user experience design and system integration.
Final Word: Excellence as Standard Practice
In my role as Director of VHTL, I view talent development not as a secondary consideration, but as fundamental to our mission. Our lab doesn’t simply conduct research—it cultivates the next generation of leaders in emotionally intelligent AI and virtual human technology. We do so with clarity, uncompromising standards, and an unwavering focus on real-world impact.
The future of therapeutic AI will be built by those who act with vision, precision, and resolve. At VHTL, we’re not just researching that future—we’re actively training the professionals who will create it. The success of our alumni at companies like Meta and Samsung Research America, and their continued contributions to the field, demonstrates that when you combine cutting-edge research with rigorous professional development, extraordinary outcomes follow.
We’re not just building virtual humans. We’re engineering the future of human support, one exceptional professional at a time.
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