Helen H. Kyomen, MD, MS

Assistant Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Helen H. Kyomen, MD, MS, DLF APA, DF AAGP, SF GAP (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4196-6915), is Chair of the Committee on Aging of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP), a national think tank helping to shape modern psychiatric theory and practice. She is also a clinician-researcher and national leader focused on ethical, patient-centered approaches to artificial intelligence in older adult mental health care.

She is Medical Director of the Boston Medical Center–Brighton Geriatric Psychiatry Program, Assistant Professor at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, and Lecturer on Psychiatry (Part-time) at Harvard Medical School.

Board certified in both geriatric and adult psychiatry, Dr. Kyomen completed her fellowship in geriatric psychiatry and NIA-supported research training at McLean Hospital, the Harvard Division on Aging, and the Harvard School of Public Health.

She has served on national committees and expert panels advising the federal government on geriatric mental health, major neurocognitive disorder/dementia, depression, and schizophrenia. Her scholarly work includes numerous publications in leading journals and textbooks.

Dr. Kyomen is the lead author, on behalf of the GAP Committee on Aging, of the Humane Intelligence framework for safer, more patient-centered AI in geropsychiatric care, including the Moral Grid Operational Index—a practical, auditable approach to translating ethical principles into point-of-care safeguards, oversight, and documentation. Her work emphasizes transparency patients and caregivers can understand, consent appropriate to cognitive vulnerability, clinician accountability for high-stakes decisions, and monitoring of outcomes that matter to older adults.

A dedicated mentor, she has trained medical students, residents, and fellows whose contributions now span clinical care, academia, and research.

Her clinical and research interests focus on affective and behavioral disturbances in neurocognitive disorders, promoting health and well-being across the life span, and advancing humane, clinically grounded governance for emerging technologies in mental health.

Publications

  • Published 12/31/2025

    Helen H Kyomen on behalf of the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry Committee on Aging. Humane Intelligence in Geropsychiatric Care: Relational Artificial Intelligence, Clinical Wisdom, and the Moral Grid Operational Index. DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2025.12.012. 2025.

    Read at: Custom

  • Published 6/6/2024

    Beyer JL, Dix E, Husain-Krautter S, Kyomen HH. Enhancing Brain Health and Well-Being in Older Adults: Innovations in Lifestyle Interventions. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2024 Aug; 26(8):405-412. PMID: 38842654.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 4/22/2021

    Saxena PP, Kyomen H. Leucovorin as an Antidepressant Adjunct in Elderly Inpatients With Treatment-resistant Depression. Prim Care Companion CNS Disord. 2021 04 22; 23(2). PMID: 34000126.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/13/2019

    Ellison JM, Kyomen HH. What Are the Appropriate Boundaries of Imagination? Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2019 09; 27(9):1031-1033. PMID: 31262685.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/7/2014

    Odenheimer G, Borson S, Sanders AE, Swain-Eng RJ, Kyomen HH, Tierney S, Gitlin L, Forciea MA, Absher J, Shega J, Johnson J. Quality improvement in neurology: dementia management quality measures. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2014 Mar; 62(3):558-61. PMID: 24397784.

    Read at: PubMed

Education

  • University of Southern California School of Medicine, MD
  • Harvard School of Public Health, MS
  • University of Southern California, BA
  • University of Southern California, BS