John-Jose Nunez
Assistant Professor
University of British Columbia, Department of Psychiatry
BC Cancer
Biography
Dr. John-Jose Nunez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia and the Associate Medical Director for Supportive Care at BC Cancer. He is dual trained as a subspecialist psychiatrist in cancer psychiatry and treatment-resistant mood disorders, and as a computational scientist, having completed an MSc in Computer Science. His work focuses on applying artificial intelligence, big data analysis and other computational methods to improve mental health and cancer care, with an emphasis on clinically grounded, patient-centered methods.
Dr. Nunez’s lab develops and evaluates AI approaches including structured machine learning and natural language processing, with a particular focus on real-world clinical data. This includes clinical documents, patient-generated text, and symptom and quality-of-life scales. The lab conducts both predictive modeling (e.g., risk stratification, outcome prediction) and generative work (e.g., patient-facing decision support and navigation tools). The lab has been doing so well before large language models became a household term.
A defining feature of the lab’s work is its end-to-end scope, spanning method development, model interpretation, clinical validation, implementation in healthcare settings, and understanding user perspectives through direct engagement with patients, caregivers, and clinicians to ensure AI-enabled tools are safe, transparent, and genuinely useful in care.
Through close collaboration with BC Cancer, UBC Psychiatry, the Department of Computer Science, and the UBC Data Science Institute, this multidisciplinary lab advances AI that meaningfully supports patients across the mental health and cancer care continuum.
- Artificial intelligence
- Natural language processing
- Psychiatry
- Mental Health
- Cancer
- Supportive cancer care
- Mood disorders
- Major depressive disorder
- Bipolar disorder
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MD
University of British Columbia
-
MSc in Computer Science
University of British Columbia
Projects
Lab Leadership
John-Jose Nunez
Principal Investigator (Assistant Professor)
Emrul Hasan
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (NLP)
Olivia Cook
Research Coordinator
Team Members (Technical)
Jenny (Yuci) Zhang
NLP Data Scientist
Jiao (Zejiao) Zeng
NLP Data Scientist
Tom (Jincheng) Chen
Full-stack Developer
Kayoung Lee
PhD Student (co-supervised, Haase Lab, UBC Nursing)
John Ferreira
MSc Student (co-supervised, Asherson Lab, KCL Psychology)
Yash Mali
BSc Student (NLP Research Assistant)
Soghomon (Saughmon) Boujkian
BSc Student (NLP Research Assistant)
Chhavi Nayyar
BSc Student (co-supervised, Conati Lab, UBC CS)
Team Members (Medical)
Tom Soroski
Psychiatry Resident (Research Track)
Robert Grmek
Psychiatry Resident (Residency Research Project)
Kayoung Heo
Psychiatry Resident (Research Associate)
Irakli Dzneladze
Medical Oncology Resident (Research Associate)
Carl Ragazan
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Andrew Loe
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Myles Chan
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Hannah Salcudean
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Ralph Justin Uy
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Matt Sha
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Dan Hilbers
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Sanjivani Chandok
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Benedikt Rohr
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Prabhleen Sandhu
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Danlin Zeng
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Jonathan Guan
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Yutika Ineni
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Leah T'ien
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Patient and Family Partners
Sally Barton
Patient Partner
Margaret Ng
Patient Partner
Chris Rauscher
Patient Partner
Richard Wassersug
Patient Partner
Alumni
Antarip Kashyap
BSc Student (Directed Studies, Computer Science)
Ashley Yang
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Grace Zhang
BSc Student (NLP Research Assistant)
Hong Hao Xu
MSc Student
Sarah Zhang
Psychiatry Resident (Residency Research Project)
Shaocheng Wu
PhD Student
Tejas Phatepekar
Medical Student (FLEX Project)
Recent Publications
Join the Lab
It is always an honour that people are interested in joining our work. Because of the volume of emails I receive, I ask that you read this page first and only reach out about specific opportunities below.
Employment positions (paid research assistants, staff roles, postdoctoral fellowships) are posted on the UBC and BC Cancer job boards, and shared on my LinkedIn. Please apply through the posted channel, and contact via email only if you have questions.
Student and trainee opportunities. For equity reasons, I do not take on volunteer learners. I accept trainees only through structured opportunities.
Apply through posted channels:
- Paid research assistant and co-op positions (undergraduate or graduate): UBC and BC Cancer job boards.
- Postdoctoral fellowships: posted as above, or through external funding competitions.
- Clinical research fellowships: typically require securing an award such as the Institute of Mental Health Marshall Fellowship or the Clinician Investigator Program. If you would like to jointly apply for such an award, please contact me (see below).
Contact me directly:
- Undergraduate directed studies or honours theses.
- Graduate MSc or PhD thesis supervision (only once accepted to UBC).
- Medical student FLEX projects.
- Resident physician research projects and research-track supervision.
- Joint fellowship applications (see clinical research fellowships above).
How to reach me. If your interest falls in the “contact me directly” list, please email johnjose.nunez[at]ubc.ca with the specific opportunity in the subject line (e.g. “FLEX project”, “directed studies”, “Marshall Fellowship co-application”). I am not able to respond to general enquiries or to questions about applying to UBC for graduate school.
Contact
Prospective trainees and employment: please see Join the Lab.
Media: UBC Media Relations at media.relations@ubc.ca. You are welcome to cc me at johnjose.nunez[at]ubc.ca.
Speaking invitations: I enjoy speaking at academic, clinical, and public venues and welcome invitations. Please reach me at johnjose.nunez[at]ubc.ca.
Research collaborations: I am always happy to discuss potential collaborations with academic and clinical partners. Please reach me at johnjose.nunez[at]ubc.ca.
Philanthropic inquiries: please see Support the Lab.
Support the Lab
We’ve been fortunate to work with philanthropic supporters who contribute more than funding. Their questions, experiences, and perspectives have shaped how we approach our research, from the problems we choose to the ways we involve patients and families. Gifts are made through registered Canadian charities and are eligible for tax receipts. If you’d like to learn about supporting the lab, or simply want to talk about the work, reach John-Jose at johnjose.nunez[at]ubc.ca or johnjose.nunez[at]bccancer.bc.ca.
Our supporters:
