Dr. Margot Paul is a licensed psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She also serves as the co-director of the Virtual Reality-Immersive Technology Clinic & Laboratory within the department. Dr. Paul earned her doctoral degree from the PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium in 2022, where she received the Outstanding Overall Student Award (2021). She completed her clinical psychology doctoral internship at the Sepulveda VA in Los Angeles, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Dr. Paul designed a feasibility study and a three-arm pilot randomized controlled trial to examine the feasibility of using a virtual reality (VR) headset as a way to administer behavioral activation therapy for participants with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. Building on this research, she incorporated a more immersive VR headset in a subsequent randomized controlled trial. She has presented her findings as a speaker at notable conferences and events, including Shift Medical 2021: Virtual Medical XR Congress and Expo, Stanford Psychiatry Grand Rounds (2022), IVRHA’s 7th Annual Virtual Reality and Healthcare Global Symposium (2023), VMed23 (2023, 2024), the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) Conference (2023), and CYPSY26: the 26th Annual Cyberpsychology, Cybertherapy, and Social Networking Conference.

Dr. Paul continues to research how VR can be integrated into evidence-based mental health protocols to reduce barriers to care. Her dissertation research earned her the Cheryl Koopman Dissertation of the Year Award (2022). In addition to her academic work, Dr. Paul has collaborated and consulted with VR companies and Bay Area startups in the technology and mental health sectors. She has also published extensively on her virtual reality research.