Software Developer with Mood Disorders Society of Canada

Varshini Prakash is a Software Developer for the Mood Disorders Society of Canada. Her role involves using cutting-edge techniques to design and develop MIRA, an AI-based mental health chatbot that can help users find relevant resources.

She graduated with an MSc in Computing Science from the University of Alberta. Her thesis, supervised by Dr. Osmar Zaiane, focused on extending the functionality of MIRA to integrate conversational pathways and cater to the general public, first responders, veterans, Indigenous communities, children and youth, and French-speaking Canadians. With a strong foundation in Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing, she has hands-on experience in developing AI-driven solutions. Varshini is passionate about mental health advocacy and strives to create innovative solutions to bridge gaps in mental health care.