2. Profile
  3. Runa Bhaumik

Runa Bhaumik PhD

Runa Bhaumik
Designation
  • Research Assistant Professor
  • University of Illinois Chicago
Contact Information
  • rbhaumik [at] uic.edu
  • School of Public Health / Psychiatric Institute (SPHPI)
    1601 W. Taylor St.
    SPHPI MC 912
    Chicago IL 60612
  • Room #:479
Website

Dr. Runa Bhaumik is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois Chicago. She earned an MS in Applied Mathematics and Computer Information Science from the University of South Alabama and a PhD in Computer Information Science from DePaul University, where her dissertation examined security and bias in recommender systems. At UIC, her work spans longitudinal data analysis, multivariate statistics, graph theory, and natural language processing, with applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence to neuroscience, mental health, and public health. Supported by NIH, she is currently developing a customized Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot called Discover to both personalize the search experience and efficiently guide users to each Rehabilitation Research and Training Centre (RRTC )'s high-quality information. She is also exploring LLM’s capabilities by combining structured and unstructured data from EHR to mitigate the risk of depression or anxiety for cancer patients. An active educator and mentor, Dr. Bhaumik has guided trainees from the undergraduate level to junior faculty. 

  • psychiatry

    Mental Health, Machine Learning, Global Health, STI and HIV prevention, Statistical Modeling, Bias and Risk mitigation in AI and NLP algorithms
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=runa+bhaumik&sort=pubdate

  • Supriya D. Mehta, Souvik Paul, Enid Awiti, Sophie Young, Garazi Zulaika, Fredrick O Otieno, Penelope A. Phillips-Howard, Linda Mason, Runa Bhaumik, Evaluation of Large Language Models within GenAI in Qualitative Research, Scientific Reports, 2025 (in press)

    Runa Bhaumik, Abhishikta Roy MS, Vineet Srivastava, Lokesh Boggavarapu, Ranganathan Chandrasekharan, Edward Mensah, John Galvin, Robust Cancer Crowdfunding Predictions: Leveraging Large Language Models and Machine Learning for Success Analysis, JMIR AI, 2025 (in press)

    Runa Bhaumik, Vineet Srivastava, Arash Jalali, Shanta Ghosh, Ranganathan Chandrasekharan, MindWatch: A Smart Cloud-based AI solution for Suicide Ideation Detection leveraging Large Language Models, medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.09.25.23296062          

    Bhaumik R, Stange J (2023) Utilizing Random Effects Machine Learning Algorithms for Identifying Vulnerability to Depression. J Dep Anxiety. DOI: 10.35248/2167-1044.23.12.516

    Mehta, S. D., Agingu, W., Zulaika, G., Nyothach, E., Bhaumik, R., Green, S. J., van Eijk, A. M., Otieno, F. O., PhillipsHoward, P. A., & Schneider, J. (2023). Vaginal Microbial Network Analysis Reveals Novel Taxa Relationships among Adolescent and Young Women with Incident Sexually Transmitted Infection Compared with Those Remaining Persistently Negative over a 30-Month Period. Microorganisms, 11(8), 2035. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11082035

    Rizavi HS, Khan OS, Zhang H, Bhaumik R, Grayson DR, Pandey GN. Methylation and expression of glucocorticoid receptor exon-1 variants and FKBP5 in teenage suicide-completers. Translation Psychiatry.   2023 Feb 13;13(1):53. doi: 10.1038/s41398-023-02345-1. PMID: 36781843. (Lead Statistician)

    Mehta, S. D., Zulaika, G., Agingu, W., Nyothach, E., Bhaumik, R., Green, S. J., van Eijk, A. M., Kwaro, D., Otieno, F., & Phillips-Howard, P. (2023). Analysis of bacterial vaginosis, the vaginal microbiome, and sexually transmitted infections following the provision of menstrual cups in Kenyan schools: Results of a nested study within a cluster randomized controlled trial. PLoS medicine, 20(7), e1004258. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004258

    Zilliox MJ, Foecking EM, Kuffel GR, Conneely M, Saban KL, Herrold AA, Kletzel SL, Radke JR, Walsh E, Guernon A, Pape A, Ripley DL, Patil V, Pacheco MS, Rosenow JM, Bhaumik R, Bhaumik D, Pape TLB. An Initial miRNA Profile of Persons With Persisting Neurobehavioral Impairments and States of Disordered Consciousness After Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. J Head Trauma Rehabil. 2022 Nov 4. doi: 10.1097/HTR.0000000000000821. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36350037.

    Johnson AK,  Bhaumik R , Nandi D, Roy A, Mehta SD. Sexually Transmitted Disease-Related Reddit Posts During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Latent Dirichlet Allocation Analysis. J Med Internet Res. 2022 Oct 31;24(10):  e37258. doi:  10.2196/37258. PMID: 36219757; PMCID: PMC9624277. (Contributed Equally)

    Klumpp, H., Jimmy, J., Burkhouse, K. L., Bhaumik, R., Francis, J., Craske, M., & Phan, K. L. (in press). Brain response to emotional faces in anxiety and depression: Neural predictors of cognitive behavioral therapy outcome and predictor-based subtypes following therapy. Psychological Medicine.

    Targum, S.D., Schappi, J., Koutsouris, A., Bhaumik, R., Rapport, M.H., Rasgon, N., Rasenick M.M: A novel peripheral biomarker for depression and antidepressant response. Mol Psychiatry (2022) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01399-1. (Statistician)

    Feurer C, Jimmy J, Bhaumik R, et al. Anterior cingulate cortex activation during attentional control as a transdiagnostic marker of psychotherapy response: a randomized clinical trial. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2022;47(7):1350-1357. doi:10.1038/s41386-021-01211-2

    Frazier SL, Rusch D, Coxe S, Stout TJ, Helseth SA, Dirks MA, Bustamante EE, Atkins MS, Glisson C, Green PD, Bhaumik D, Bhaumik R. After-School Programs and Children's Mental Health: Organizational Social Context, Program Quality, and Children's Social Behavior. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2021 Mar-Apr;50(2):215-228. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2019.1683849. Epub 2020 Feb 14. PMID: 32058822. (consultant)

    Pandey GN, Rizavi HS, Bhaumik R, Zhang H. Chemokines gene expression in the prefrontal cortex of depressed suicide victims and normal control subjects. Brain Behav Immun. 2021 May; 94:266-273. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2021.01.033. Epub 2021 Feb 9. PMID: 33571631; PMCID: PMC8231709.

    Mehta SD, Zulaika G, Otieno FO, Nyothach E, Agingu W, Bhaumik R, Green SJ, van Eijk AM, Kwaro D, Phillips-Howard PA. High Prevalence of Lactobacillus crispatus Dominated Vaginal Microbiome Among Kenyan Secondary School Girls: Negative Effects of Poor-Quality Menstrual Hygiene Management and Sexual Activity. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2021 Sep 21; 11:716537. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.716537. PMID: 34621690; PMCID: PMC8490761.

    Feurer C, Jimmy J, Bhaumik R, Duffecy J, Medrano GR, Ajilore O, Shankman SA, Langenecker SA, Craske MG, Phan KL, Klumpp H. Anterior cingulate cortex activation during attentional control as a transdiagnostic marker of psychotherapy response: a randomized clinical trial. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021 Oct 30:1–8. doi: 10.1038/s41386-021-01211-2. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34718341; PMCID: PMC8556845.

    Bender Pape TL, Livengood SL, Kletzel SL, Blabas B, Guernon A, Bhaumik DK, Bhaumik R, Mallinson T, Weaver JA, Higgins JP, Wang X, Herrold AA, Rosenow JM, Parrish T. Neural Connectivity Changes Facilitated by Familiar Auditory Sensory Training in Disordered Consciousness: A TBI Pilot Study. Front Neurol 2020; 11:1027. PMCID: PMC7578344. (Lead Statistician)

    Bender Pape TL, Herrold AA, Livengood SL, Guernon A, Weaver JA, Higgins JP, Rosenow JM, Walsh E, Bhaumik R, Pacheco M, Patil VK, Kletzel S, Conneely M, Bhaumik DK, Mallinson T, Parrish T. A Pilot Trial Examining the Merits of Combining Amantadine and Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as an Intervention for Persons With Disordered Consciousness After TBI. J Head Trauma Rehabil. 2020 Nov-Dec;35(6):371-387. doi: 10.1097/HTR.0000000000000634. PMID: 33165151. (Lead Statistician)

    Singh H, Chmura J, Bhaumik R, Pandey GN, Rasenick MM. Membrane-Associated α-Tubulin Is Less Acetylated in Postmortem Prefrontal Cortex from Depressed Subjects Relative to Controls: Cytoskeletal Dynamics, HDAC6, and Depression. J Neurosci. 2020 May 13;40(20):4033-4041. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3033-19.2020. Epub 2020 Apr 13. PMID: 32284336; PMCID: PMC721928 (Lead Statistician)

    Johnson AK, Bhaumik R, Tabidze I, Mehta SD. Nowcasting sexually transmitted infections in Chicago: predictive modeling and evaluation study using Google trends. JMIR Public Health Surveill 2020;6(4): e20588. PMCID: PMC7677015 (Contributed Equally)

    Mehta SD, Zhao D, Green SJ, Agingu W, Otieno F, Bhaumik R, Bhaumik D, Bailey RC. The microbiome composition of a man's penis predicts incident bacterial vaginosis in his female sex partner with high accuracy. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020;10:433. PMCID: PMC7438843

    Caveney AF, Langenecker SA, Pandey AS, Farah LB, Ortiz JA, Huq N, Bhaumik R, Thompson BG, Giordani BJ, Auer D, Morgenstern LB. Neuropsychological Changes in Patients Undergoing Treatment of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms. Neurosurgery, 84(3), 581-587

    Stange JP, Jenkins L, DelDonno S, Kling L, Bhaumik R, Phan L, Langenecker S. Using resting-state intrinsic network connectivity to identify suicide risk in mood disorders. Psychological Medicine, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291719002356

    Pandey, G.N., Rizavi, H.S., Bhaumik, R., Ren, X., Innate immunity in the postmortem brain of depressed and suicide subjects: Role of Toll-like receptors, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2019 (Lead Statistician)

    Bhaumik, R., Pradhan, A., Das, S., & Bhaumik, D. K. (2018). Predicting Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Domain Adaptive Cross-Site Evaluation. Neuroinformatics, 16(2), 197–205. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12021-018-9366-0

    Burkhouse KL, Stange J, Jacobs RH, Bhaumik R, Bassette KL, Peters AT, Crane NA, Fitzgerald KD, Monk CS, Welsh RC, Phan, KL, Langenecker SA (in press). Developmental changes in resting state functional networks among individuals with and without internalizing psychopathologies. Depression and Anxiety, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22864 (consultant)

    Langenecker, S.A., Jenkins, L.M., Stange, JP., Chang, Yi-Shin, DelDonno, Sophie R., Bessette, Katie L., Passarotti, Alessandra M., Bhaumik, R., Ajilore, Olusola, Jacobs, Rachel H., Cognitive control neuroimaging measures differentiate between those with and without future recurrence of depression, Neuroimage Clinical, 2018.

    Klumpp, H., Kinney, KL., Bhaumik, R., Fitzgerald, JM., Principal Component Analysis and Brain-Based Predictors of Emotion Regulation in Anxiety and Depression, Psychological Medicine, 2018. (consultant)

    Bhaumik, D., Jie, F., Nordgren, R., Bhaumik, R., Sinha, BK., A mixed-effects model for detecting disrupted connectivities in heterogeneous data, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 2018.

    Crane, NA., Verges, A., K, M., Bhaumik, R., Kelly A. R., David F. M., Erika F. H. S., Michelle T. K., Anne L. W., Melvin G. M., Scott A. L., Developing Dimensional Pandiagnostic Inhibitory Control Constructs With Self- Report and Neuropsychological Data, Assessment (2018), https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191118754704. (consultant)

    Pandey GN, Rizavi HR, Zhang H, Bhaumik R, Ren X. Abnormal protein and mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines in the prefrontal cortex of depressed and suicide subjects. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 2018. (Lead Statistician)

    Klump, Heide., Bhaumik, Runa., Kinney, Kerry L., Fitzgerald, Jacklynn M., Principal component analysis and neural predictors of emotion regulation, Behavioral Brain Research 338 (2018) 128133(2017) (consultant)

    Natania A. Crane, Lisanne M. Jenkins, Runa Bhaumik, Catherine Dion, Jennifer R. Gowins, Brian J. Micky, Jon-Kar Zubieta, Scott A. Langenecker, Multidimensional prediction of treatment response to antidepressants with cognitive control and functional MRI, Brain January 2017 DOI: 10.1093/brain/aww326

    Bhaumik, R., Gowins, Jacobs, R., Jenkins, L., Barba, A., Bhaumik, DK., Langenecker, SA., Multivariate Pattern Analysis Strategies in Detection of Remitted Major Depressive Disorder using Resting State Functional Connectivity, Neuroimage-clinical, 2016.

    Pandey, GN., Rizavi, HS., Zhang, H., Bhaumik, R., Ren, Xinguo., The Expression of the SuicideAssociated Gene SKA2 Is Decreased in the Prefrontal Cortex of Suicide Victims but Not of Nonsuicidal Patients Feb 2016, The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.
    (Lead Statistician)

    Caveney A, Pandey AS, Langenecker SA, Gabriel L, Ortiz JA, Huq N, Bhaumik R, Thompson BG, Giordani BJ, Auer DL, Morgenstern L. Neurocognitive Decline and Recovery in Patients Undergoing Microsurgical vs Endovascular Treatment of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms.   Neurosurgery. 2015 Aug; 62 Suppl 1:217. doi: 10.1227/01.neu.0000467120.07828.a0.

    Atkins, MS, Shernoff, ES., Frazier, SL., Schoenwald SK., Cappella, E., Ane Marinez-Lora, Mehta, G., Lakind, D., Bhaumik, R. Bhaumik, D. Re-Designing Community Mental Health Services for Urban Children: Supporting Schooling to Promote Mental Health (JCCP, 2015) (Lead Statistician)

    Lambert, B., Bhaumik, R., Zhao, W., Bhaumik, D. Detection and Prediction Limits for Identifying Highly Confusable Drug Names from Experimental Data, Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics, 2015. (Lead Statistician)

    Ren X, Rizavi HS, Khan MA, Bhaumik R., Dwivedi Y, Pandey GN. Alteration of cyclic-AMP response element binding protein in the postmortem brain of subjects with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. J Affect Disord 152-154:326-33, 2014 [Epub 2013 Oct 5] PMID: 24148789. (Lead Statistician)

    Kapur, K., Bhaumik, R., Tang, XC., Hur, K., Moritz, TE., Domenic J.R., and Bhaumik, D.K., “Sample Size Determination for Longitudinal Binary Data., Statistics in Medicine, 2014.

    Pandey GN, Rizavi HS, Ren X, Bhaumik R, Dwivedi Y. Toll-like receptors in the depressed and suicide brain. J Psychiatry Research. 2014 Jun; 53:62-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2014.01.021. Epub 2014 Feb 11. PMID: 24565447; PMCID: PMC4004369. (Lead Statistician)

    Bhaumik, D., Kapur, K., Bhaumik, R. and Reda, R.D., Sample Size Determination for Testing the Mean of a Lognormal Distribution, Journal of Environmental Statistics, 2013.

    Mobasher, B., Burke, R., Bhaumik, R., and Williams, C. Towards Trustworthy Recommender Systems: An Analysis of Attack Models and Algorithm Robustness. ACM Transactions on Internet Technology Volume 7Issue 4pp 23–eshttps://doi.org/10.1145/1278366.1278372

    B. Mobasher, R. Burke, R. Bhaumik and J. J. Sandvig, "Attacks and Remedies in Collaborative Recommendation," in IEEE Intelligent Systems, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 56-63, May-June 2007, doi:
    10.1109/MIS.2007.45.

Title Description Investigator(s) Category Status
Brain-Behavioral Predictors of Interpersonal Stress Generation and Depression Risk in Adolescent Girls This project utilizes fMRI and ecological momentary assessment to examine negative affective reactivity within negative social interactions as predictors of interpersonal stress generation and depression in at-risk adolescent girls (ages 13-15). Biostatistical Research Program On-going
From Health Disparity to Health Empowerment: Utilizing Natural Language Processing to Drive Community Health Equity. AIM-AHEAD Fellowship Program in Leadership award   09/15/23-06/14/24 Biostatistical Research Program On-going
Harnessing AI for Accessing NIDILRR-Funded Research and TDTA: The “Discover” Chatbot The proposed project will design and implement a customized Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot called Discover, to both personalize the search experience and efficiently guide users to each RRTC’s high-quality information. Biostatistical Research Program On-going
Increased risk of STI and HIV among adolescent girls and young women due to COVID-19 and pandemic mitigation: Biological, behavioral, and psychosocial mediators NIH/NICHD               R01HD106822              Mehta, SD (PI)                   09/16/2021 – 06/30/2025 Dr. Bhaumik serves as PI for the sub-contract of this grant Mentoring Ph.D. candidates in the application of biostatistical methods Biostatistical Research Program On-going
MindWatch: Advancing Mental Well-being with State-of-the-art Transformer Models, Knowledge Graphs, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) Model, A proof of concept study utilizing Social Media Texts This project explores the potential of NLP and AI tools in revolutionizing suicide detection by harnessing the power of language analysis using Reddit Posts This is a proof-of-concept study, where Dr. Bhaumik is the leading investigator Biostatistical Research Program On-going
Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms Underlying the Onset of Depression among At-Risk Youth: The Role of Dysregulation in the Negative Valence System NIH   1R01MH130437-01A1 PI: Burkehouse, Katie   04/2023- 03/2028 Dr. Bhaumik serves as PI for the sub-contract of this grant Biostatistical Research Program On-going
Psycho-Oncology Exploring LLM’s capabilities by combining structured and unstructured data from EHR to mitigate the risk of depression or anxiety for cancer patients. Leading Investigators: Runa Bhaumik and John Galvin Biostatistical Research Program On-going
Single arm trial of menstrual cups among economically vulnerable women to reduce Bacterial vaginosis and STIs through reduced harmful sexual and menstrual practices NIH/NIAID  R01 AI170564    Mehta, SD (PI)                        08/18/2022 – 07/31/2027 Dr. Bhaumik serves as PI for the sub-contract of this grant Mentoring Ph.D. candidates in the application of biostatistical methods   Biostatistical Research Program On-going
The Clinical History of Rectal and Urethral STIs among MSM: Characterizing microbiome host immune interactions for diagnostic and vaccine advances NIH/NIAI R01AI177005     Mehta, SD – Contact MPI            8/18/2023 – 7/31/2028 Dr. Bhaumik serves as PI for the sub-contract of this grant Biostatistical Research Program On-going
Menstrual cups, maturation of the adolescent vaginal microbiome, and STI/HIV risk The goal of this project is to study the mechanisms by which menstrual cup use lead to reduced BV and STIs, and the effect of menstrual cup use on evolution of the adolescent vaginal microbiome.   Biostatistical Research Program Completed

*System-generated list from psychiatry research website.