Whole Health Consortium Advances Mental, Rural, and Technology Research

The Virginia Tech Whole Health Consortium has awarded seed funding to six multidisciplinary research teams to accelerate innovation in mental health, rural health, and technology. These grants aim to address well-being across community and clinical settings by fostering community-engaged projects with high potential for external scaling. This initiative is significant for the mental health technology sector as it integrates advanced tools like large language models and virtual reality to improve cognitive resilience and psychological well-being in vulnerable populations.

One of the primary projects funded through the 2025-26 Seed Grant Program is led by Katalin Parti, an associate professor of sociology at Virginia Tech. The team is developing an anti-scam conversational helper that utilizes a large language model (LLM) to detect phone scams in real-time. This technology is paired with an immersive virtual-reality (VR) training environment designed to help older adults practice recognizing manipulation tactics under high-pressure, simulated conditions. The project addresses a critical psychological gap where individuals may possess knowledge about scams but struggle to apply it during stressful, real-time interactions.

The technical components of the initiative include a phone-based system that analyzes conversation dynamics to identify manipulation tactics as they occur, providing immediate explanatory feedback to the user. Meanwhile, the VR component allows participants to build resilience by navigating high-pressure scenarios in a safe environment. Team members Na Meng and Christiana Chamon Garcia will join Parti in conducting proof-of-concept testing over the next year to refine these technical and behavioral interventions. The ultimate goal is to secure larger external funding for longitudinal evaluation and broad dissemination of these mental health and safety tools.

The Whole Health Consortium offers two distinct funding tracks to support these innovations: the Advancing Partnerships track and the Incubating Emergent Collaborations award. The former provides up to $40,000 for one year to support multidisciplinary teams, while the latter offers up to $10,000 for eight-month projects focused on generating preliminary data or prototypes. This year’s program involves partnerships with Carilion Clinic and the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment, highlighting a collaborative approach to mental health technology that spans academic, clinical, and social disciplines.

According to Tina Savla, director of the Whole Health Consortium, these grants are intended to move beyond isolated fixes to address how well-being is shaped across various environments. By focusing on the intersection of technology and mental health, the consortium seeks to influence practice at scale. The specific focus on older adults' autonomy and safety through AI and VR demonstrates a growing trend in the sector toward proactive, technology-driven interventions that support cognitive health and reduce the psychological stress associated with financial exploitation.