Hello!👋
I'm Lisa Orii. I received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Washington, Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, where I was advised by Dr. Richard Anderson.
In 2022, I was selected as MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 Japan. I am a Japanese Fellow for the inaugural cohort of the Quad Fellowship and received a 2-year fellowship from The Funai Foundation for Information Technology.
Research
During my Ph.D., I designed, developed, implemented, and evaluated digital health technologies in low- and middle-income countries. My research applies qualitative and quantitative methods and participatory approaches to understand user needs. I partner with stakeholders, designers, engineerns, and domain experts to translate user insights into actional design guidelines that shape the future of technologies in real-world contexts.
Below are recent projects.
Dec 2024 – Present
Speculative co-design to inform design guidelines for chatbot-supported contraceptive care for young women in Kenyan pharmacies.
GeekWire article (Oct 2025)
Sep 2023 – May 2025
Iterative design and development of a contraceptive decision-support app for young women in Kenyan pharamcies, based on lessons from co-design.
Paper in ACM CHI 2025
May 2022 – Nov 2024
Qualitative investigation of diverse stakeholders' views towards digital data colletion and management at Malawi's HIV care program.
Education
Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering – Specialization: Human-Computer Interaction
Graduate Certificate in Global Health of Women, Adolescents, and Children
B.A. in Computer Science and Philosophy
Celebratory News ✨
- Jun 2026: I graduated from my PhD at UW!
- Apr 2026: I defended my dissertation!
- Oct 2025: GeekWire wrote an article featuring our work on designing chatbots for sensitive medical contexts!
- Sep 2025: Completed my research internship at OMRON SINIC X Corporation in Japan!
- Apr 2025: Presented our paper at CHI 2025 in Yokohama, Japan! Also helped out as student volunteer!
more news!
- Jan 2025: Papers accepted to CHI 2025 and PLOS ONE!
- Dec 2024: Became a Ph.D. CANDIDATE!
- Nov 2024: Presented our paper at CSCW 2024 in San Jose, Costa Rica!
- May 2024: Presented our Best Paper Honorable Mention paper at CHI 2024 in Honolulu!
- Apr 2024: Our CSCW paper is published in PACM HCI journal. Here is the PDF!
- Apr 2024: Awarded the Horton-Hallowell Fellowship from Wellesley College!
- Apr 2024: Started my internship with PATH in Digital Square and Primary Health Care teams!
- Apr 2024: Conducted fieldwork in Kenya for research!
- Mar 2024: Paper accepted to CHI 2024: Link to paper!
- Jan 2024: Awarded a grant from the UW Global Innovation Fund for our work on app development for contraceptive education in Kenya!
- Nov 2023: Paper accepted to CSCW 2024!
- Jun 2023: Attended the Quad Fellowship Summit in Melbourne, Australia .
- Dec 2022: Selected to the inaugural cohort of the Quad Fellowship!
- Nov 2022: Selected to MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 Japan !
- Sep 2022: Conducted fieldwork research at an HIV clinic in Malawi for 2 weeks.
- Jun 2022: Helped organize and attended ICTD and ACM COMPASS 2022 at UW!
- May 2022: Attended my first in-person conference at CHI 2022, where I presented our paper "Designing for Speech Practice Systems: How Do User-Controlled Voice Manipulation and Model Speakers Impact Self-Perceptions of Voice?"
- Sep 2021: Officially started my Ph.D. at UW!
- Sep 2021: Attended AutomotiveUI '21 and presented our paper "Perceptions of Trucking Automation: Insights from the r/Truckers Community"
- Jun 2021: Graduated from Wellesley College
- May 2021: Attended my first (virtual) conference at CHI 2021
- Apr 2021: Committed to University of Washington CS Ph.D. program!
- Nov 2020: Selected as a Grantee of Funai Overseas Scholarship