UC San Diego Siblings Help Launch Willo Wellness App

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This story appears in the spring 2025 issue of UC San Diego Magazine as “Dynamic Duo.”

Making a difference in the lives of others and igniting positive change is the UC San Diego way.

According to Dr. Edward Junkins, executive director of Student Health and Well-Being, universities globally are seeing significant increases in mental health-related incidents and greater demand for access to wellness and mental health support. While UC San Diego offers many wellness resources, some students are unclear about the specific resources available and how to access them.

“Today’s generation is tuned into self-help resources they can drive and customize,” shares Junkins. “It’s that idea of having what you want, when and how you want it. Mental health and well-being resources are no different.”

In fall 2024, a comprehensive wellness app, Willo, was launched. Created by and for UC San Diego students, the app is the first of its kind on a university campus — utilizing artificial intelligence to integrate the campus’s extensive wellness services into a highly personalized platform.

Developed by over 100 people with $5 million funding from the State of California, Willo is the product of more than two years of collaboration between UC San Diego students and faculty and staff from Student Health and Well-Being and The Joan & Irwin Jacobs Center for Health Innovation at UC San Diego Health.

The app compiles UC San Diego’s vast wellness resources — from counseling and psychological services to career services and recreation classes — into one easy-to-use platform. Students log on using their UC San Diego account and select their interests from eight categories: academic, arts and culture, basic needs, career, communities, mental health and wellness, physical health and spirituality. As they interact with the app, its recommendations become more refined.

A Foundation of Wellness

Siblings Manas and Poorva Bedmutha, MS ’24, were among the first students to work on the app. Manas, a third-year PhD candidate in the Human-centered eXtended Intelligence Research Lab, was brought into the app’s development by Heidi Rataj, director of design at UC San Diego Health.

“At UC San Diego, we put young minds in front of tough projects,” says Rataj. “We ask students to be challenged and help us solve problems on a massive scale.”

Manas’ experience in machine learning, algorithms and data science was put to use on a recommendation engine for the first iteration of Willo.

When the Willo team recognized the need for additional support, Manas immediately recommended his younger sister, Poorva, then a master’s student working with the Design Lab at UC San Diego, to develop a mobile app that helps people with autism practice their interviewing skills. She is now in the first year of her PhD in electrical and computer engineering.

This complementary sibling partnership began years before joining the UC San Diego community. The two grew up in India, about 100 miles from Mumbai, spending their free time exploring the outdoors. They developed a shared commitment to health and wellness, eventually leading to an interest in its intersection with technology.

“I’ve always wanted to work on health and tech together. And among all schools in the U.S., UC San Diego has been the premier school championing this,” says Manas.

The Backbone of Willo

At UC San Diego, the Bedmuthas have been able to work at that intersection of health and technology. They joined the Willo development team when everything about the app’s design was “on a whiteboard,” says Poorva. The duo has played a considerable role in getting Willo from ideation to its current iteration: a fully functional, comprehensive wellness app for students.

Manas believes the app is successful because of the unparalleled support the team has received. “The way everyone is coming together so synergistically to build for the students,” he says, adding, “That collaboration is something I’ve never seen, and I’ve worked on large teams.”

For Manas and Poorva, the dynamic they share also enhances their contributions. “Our thinking is fundamentally very different,” says Poorva. “I love it because it brings different perspectives to the table. Our disagreements help us come to a logical decision.”

Their unique collaboration underscores the backbone of Willo: building trust and transparency to ensure every student’s voice is heard and reflected in the final product. “Their dynamic works really well because they push each other, and they look out for each other,” says Rataj. “When you’re writing code, you need checks and balances, and their dynamic emboldens that.”

For the Bedmuthas, working on Willo has been deeply rewarding. “We are a part of something that’s going to have a large impact,” says Poorva.

For Patty Maysent, CEO of UC San Diego Health, “This app is a testament to the hard work, dedication and innovative approach of Student Health and Well-Being, Jacobs Center for Health Innovation and our forward-thinking and compassionate UC San Diego students.” She adds, “I am so inspired by UC San Diego’s commitment to student health and well-being and our dedication to providing our communities with greater access to world-class, holistic health care.”

Learn more about Willo at willo.ucsd.edu.