Strengthening Communities Through Health Innovation
FoundHer-AI is focused on developing integrated community health models that support behavioral health, substance use recovery, peer support, and coordinated care for underserved communities. Our work combines research, lived experience, and practical community partnerships to help improve access to compassionate, whole-person support.
We believe lasting change happens when communities are empowered through knowledge, participation, trust, and meaningful connection. By strengthening local capacity and supporting collaborative approaches to care, we aim to foster healthier and more connected, self sufficient communities.
What we do
Behavioral Health & Substance Use Recovery
Supporting integrated approaches to co-occurring mental health and substance use conditions through community-centered implementation models based on global success models for underserved communities.
Community Led Systems Innovation
Advancing collaborative solutions led by community members working across healthcare, public health, technology, and trustedcommunity organizations.
Community Research & Evaluation
Developing implementation frameworks, systems analysis, and outcome evaluation methods that support the growth of sustainable community health programs.
Technology for Community Health
Exploring responsible and human-centered uses of technology and AI to strengthen coordination, access, and informed decision-making in underserved communities.
Our Beliefs
Founder Linda Yu and Co-Founder Dr. John Naslund created FoundHer-AI from a shared belief that every community deserves compassionate support, trusted care, and the opportunity to thrive.
Systems of care meant to help people have become too complicated, making basic care and support harder to access when it should feel simple, human, and intuitive.
We believe lasting change begins with meeting basic human needs, strengthening dignity and belonging, and thoughtfully using technology in ways that respect privacy, protect trust, and help communities expand access to care, learning, coordination, and support.
Our Team
Engaging community skill building to focus on human centered solutions for community well being.
Mental Health and Substance Use
Providing vital support for mental health and substance use disorder to improve wellness in communities.
Community Partnerships
Collaborating with local organizations to expand our reach.
AI Empowerment
Considering safe methods to consider supporting underserved regions while intensely protecting data privacy
Our team
We believe lasting change begins with a commitment to meeting basic human needs, strengthening dignity, and creating a sense of belonging through shared ownership of community challenges. We engage in ways that respect privacy, protect trust, and foster collaborative, empowered communities capable of moving beyond immediate obstacles and sustaining healthier, more connected lives over time.
Linda Yu
Founder, Executive Director and President
Linda is an entrepreneurial executive with a strong track record of building programs, ventures, and multidisciplinary teams from the ground up. She specializes in identifying breakthrough pathways and translating complex policy, health, and community challenges into scalable initiatives designed to create measurable, long-term impact. Her experience has supported major projects for federal agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the White House. Her work in data analytics and systems design has informed science and technology policy, research investment strategy, disaster recovery planning, and the development of evidence-based programs. Her career spans leadership roles across both large corporate organizations and early-stage startup ventures.
John Naslund
Co-Founder, Strategic Advisor and Vice President
John is Vice President of FoundHer-AI, and is a faculty member in Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School with expertise in psychiatric epidemiology, implementation science, and digital mental health. His work focuses on improving access to care in low-resource and historically underserved communities. Dr. Naslund is an Honorary Research Fellow with Sangath and Co-Founder of the Mental Health for All Lab at Harvard Medical School. A respected mentee of Paul Farmer, he has a longstanding track record of advancing the rights, dignity, and quality of healthcare for individuals living in communities with limited access to services, with successful projects spanning multiple regions around the world.
Maria Ruiz
LCSW 81189, PPSC (SSW/CWA)
Maria is a bilingual and bicultural first generation educated Latinx Licensed Clinical Social Worker in California with over a decade of experience serving diverse populations. A DACA recipient, her work spans youth in foster care, children and adults with disabilities, English learners, individuals with mental health challenges, and at-promise youth in schools. She has been a full time Faculty Lecturer for the CSUMB MSW department since August of 2023. Her "lived experience" personal life has contributed to her leading designs for early innovations in the development of school based group therapy, socio-emotional counseling, and the development of restorative practices aligned with California Law EC Section 48900(w)(2), focusing on severe trauma-informed interventions.
Sophie Doddemeade
Project Management
Sophie is a recent graduate of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey with a strong passion for intersectional environmental action. She is committed to addressing environmental degradation and its impacts on communities, ecosystems, and public health through research, policy, accountability, and community-centered education focused on both remediating existing harm and advancing preventative solutions. Her research orientation and natural curiosity provide valuable support to FoundHer-AI’s mission and systems-based approach to community health innovation. Sophie was also a recipient of the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Conflict Transformation Fellowship (2024–2025) and the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Conflict Transformation Mentor Fellowship (2025–2026) in support of her graduate studies.
Contact us
Telephone:
E-mail: linda.yu@foundher-ai.org
Address: Monterey, CA