Ashley Mason

Dr. Ashley Mason is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. She leads research at the intersection of behavioral medicine, mindfulness interventions, and digital health technologies.

• Key affiliations: UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, SEA Lab, Osher Sleep Group
• Education: BA in Psychology & Sociology (Northwestern), PhD in Clinical Psychology (Arizona), Postdoctoral Fellowship in Integrative Behavioral Medicine (UCSF)

Her research focuses on non-pharmacologic interventions for mood and metabolic disorders, particularly:

• Whole-body hyperthermia for major depressive disorder
• Wearable device data analysis for early disease detection (e.g., SARS-CoV-2)
• Mindfulness-based lifestyle interventions for type 2 diabetes
• Food addiction phenotyping in obesity

Publication Trends

Recent work emphasizes digital biomarker development using wearable technology, with cross-cutting themes in stress-related eating behaviors, sex-based physiological differences, and mind-body interaction mechanisms. Key journals span J Med Internet Res, Brain Behav Immun, and Mindfulness.

Scientific Contributions

• NIH-funded R34/R33 trials on hyperthermia-CBT integration
• Pioneering wearable ring data applications for fever/Covid monitoring
• Development of RED-X5/RED-13 scales for reward-related eating

She collaborates extensively with UCSF's Integrative Medicine and Neurosciences teams, with publications spanning mindfulness-based weight loss, stress eating in diabetes, and physiological correlates of depression. Her work bridges clinical psychology, digital health, and chronobiology.