Berkeley Fung Fellows Partner With UCSF to Support Gen-Z Vaping Cessation 

Four UC Berkeley Fung Fellows from different academic backgrounds spent the past year working with the UCSF HEARTY Lab to solve a challenge affecting college campuses nationwide: helping young people quit vaping. Through this collaboration, Daniel Geraci, Elizabeth Wiley, Genesis Green, and Nathan Sutherland developed V-Quit, an AI-powered chatbot designed to provide personalized support for people trying to quit vaping. 

The project began with understanding the experiences of the people they hoped to help. “We did a lot of our research with UC Berkeley students, including some of our friends and friends of friends who struggle with vaping and want to quit. We see it as a really big issue among many college students, not just here at UC Berkeley,” says Wiley, a sophomore studying Business Administration.

The chatbot is designed to provide personalized support throughout the quitting process. For Green, a junior majoring in MCB and Public Health, the project also became an opportunity to explore how emerging technologies can be applied in healthcare. 

“I think the best way to describe it is as having 24/7 personalized access to someone who genuinely cares about your vaping habits,” Green says. “A lot of people are hesitant about AI, but in our app, it’s a really important part of the experience. It’s backed by clinical science, so it’s not just another app making promises without evidence.”

The partnership with UCSF played a major role in shaping the project. Through the Fung Fellowship, the students gained access to mentors, researchers, and industry experts who helped guide the development process and connect the team with the resources they needed. 

“I think that was one of the really valuable aspects of the Fung Fellowship because it provided so many resources for us to conduct research and connect with industry partners,” says Geraci, a Computer Science major. “Through those connections, we learned more about how to actually build the chatbot and how to tailor it to Gen Z users who are trying to quit vaping.” 

However, some of the most valuable lessons learned during the project came from the challenges. According to Sutherland, a senior majoring in EECS, gathering honest feedback from potential users proved more difficult than expected. “Talking to people is surprisingly difficult, especially because people generally want to be nice,” Sutherland says. “They want to tell you that your idea is good, that it works, or that they would use it, even when they might not.”

Learning how to gather genuine feedback was a central part of the learning process. Throughout the year, the students repeatedly tested ideas and revised their designs. “There were many points during the project where we had to create multiple prototypes,” Geraci says. “We were constantly testing, gathering feedback, and iterating with different users. That process allowed us to refine the product and better meet the needs of the people we were trying to help.”

This experience also shaped how they think about innovation and problem-solving moving forward. For Green, the project changed the way she views AI and its role in healthcare. “When I first joined the project, AI was something that both intrigued and intimidated me,” Green says. “One of my biggest takeaways is that AI doesn’t have to be something we fear. When it’s developed thoughtfully and grounded in evidence, it can be a powerful tool, especially in healthcare.”

For Sutherland, one of the most important lessons was the value of fast iteration. “One of my biggest takeaways was the importance of failing fast,” he says. “There were a lot of features that we thought users would like or find valuable, but they didn’t. Discovering that early was incredibly useful because it allowed us to quickly adjust and improve the product.”

The project also demonstrated the value of bringing together students with different expertise. Team members contributed perspectives from engineering, business, public health, and the life sciences, creating an environment where ideas could be challenged and strengthened from multiple angles. “I appreciated the opportunity to work cross-functionally,” Geraci says. “We all came from different academic and professional backgrounds, and being able to collaborate and learn from each other’s perspectives helped us develop a more well-rounded solution.”

For the Fung Fellows, this project provided an opportunity to combine perspectives from engineering, business, and public health to address a critical challenge facing young adults. Through their partnership with UCSF, the team gained experience in turning research into practical tools while exploring how technology can support healthier behaviors.

As the project moves forward, the students hope V-Quit can help more young people gain support and take steps toward quitting vaping.