Shaddy K. Saba

I’m a clinician scientist and Assistant Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. I study chronic pain and its intersections with behavioral health among vulnerable populations. I bring together perspectives and methods from social work and data science to understand these problems and to work toward accessible, targeted, and scalable interventions.

I also study applications of AI and digital interventions in social work and behavioral health. I direct NYU Silver’s post-master’s certificate program in Artificial Intelligence in Social Work and Mental Health, helping clinicians critically evaluate these technologies and their implications for practice.

My research and teaching draw on over a decade of practice experience in mental health, chronic pain, and substance use treatment settings.

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Shaddy K. Saba — New York University
Silver School of Social Work

Highlighted work

NIH HEAL K12 Award

Social work practice in chronic pain care

I’m studying social workers’ role in chronic pain care and what would help them expand that role, with emerging adults as a priority population. I serve as principal investigator on this project, which is funded through the National Institutes of Health’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative, an effort to address the opioid crisis by improving pain management and addiction treatment. The K12 program is administered by the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center at the University of Michigan.

JAMA Psychiatry · 2026

Patients use AI—clinicians should ask how

In this article, we argue that AI use belongs in ordinary clinical conversations and provide evidence-informed recommendations to begin having them. Featured by NPR, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, and Tech Policy Press.