Research that moves AIhealthhardwaresoftware forward.

Senior Mixed-Methods UX Researcher at Google. I research across ecosystems of software and hardware, and have led products from 0→1, including a 13M+ user launch of the Google Health app, FDA regulated software development at Samsung, and ML healthcare solutions at Verily.

Rakh Hargett, Senior UX Researcher
Rakh Hargett
Senior Mixed-Methods UX Researcher
6+ Years
Mixed-Methods UXR
13 Million+
Users — Google Health app GA launch
SAMSUNG
verily health
Selected work

Case studies

Selected UXR projects across agentic AI, health, software, hardware, and regulated industries.

2024–2026

Fitbit → Google Health: Research supporting an agentic AI product transition & 13 Million+ user launch

End-to-end UX research spanning rebranding, AI Health Coach, contextual personalization, agentic memory, information architecture, conversational quality evaluation, and a tiered launch to millions.

0→LaunchAgentic AIConversational qualityMobileWearableData Viz
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Google Health app overview
Samsung Health app on Galaxy Watch and phone
SAMSUNG 2025

FDA Regulated Software Development: human factors for medical device mobile and wearable applications

Spearheaded formative human factors research for SaMD, authoring the Human Factors Validation Protocol, and integrating UX risk mitigation for clinical populations, while cutting time-to-market by 2 months with Agile frameworks.

SaMDHuman factorsFDA regulatoryMobileWearable
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2024

Rebranding Fitbit: Google's first cross-device Material Design study

Cross functional UXR, unblocking Director-level support for the Fitbit + Pixel rebrand with statistical validation across mobile and smartwatch for Material Design adoption.

Design systemsQuant researchMobileWearableSemantics
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Google Health app — four screens showing Today, Fitness, Sleep, and Health tabs
AI computer vision pose estimation research
2022–2023

0→1 AI Mobile and Web App: novel HCI & computer vision research from discovery to 100k-user launch

Led all research for a novel computer vision AI application incubated inside Google Research, building UXR infrastructure from scratch, leading foundational and usability research, a 700-person Fitbit cohort, achieving a 40% improvement in AI model accuracy.

Computer vision AI0→1 launchMobileWebWearableIncubator Research
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verily health 2021–2022

B2B ML Solutions: UXR for complex hospital solutions & clinical discovery

3 foundational UXR studies and 50+ user interviews for a Verily + Highmark Health + Google Cloud joint venture — identifying key clinical intervention windows, multi-user flows,  and shaping ML data architecture for the Living Health model.

B2B researchAI/MLWebUser Flow DiagramsClinical Discovery
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Highmark Health, Verily and Google Cloud logos
5 Users? — usability testing methodology
Thought Leadership 2024

Do you only need to test with 5 users? Understanding the math behind qualitative usability testing.

A deep dive into the statistical foundations of the "5 users" rule — where it comes from, when it holds, and when it doesn't. Written for practitioners who want to make defensible sampling decisions rather than just cite Nielsen.

MethodologySample sizeQuant foundationsUsability testing
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Career

Experience

Oct 2025 – Present
via Akraya · San Francisco, CA
Agentic AIHealthConversational UIMobileWearable13M+ Users
Senior Mixed-Methods UX Researcher
Led end-to-end research across the Fitbit→Google Health transition and AI Health Coach launch, from foundational app IA through agentic memory CUJs, internal research programs, and a 13M+ user GA launch.
Apr – Oct 2025
via Pyramid · Mountain View, CA
SaMDFDAHuman FactorsWearableMobile
Senior Mixed-Methods UX Researcher
Led formative research & authored the Human Factors Validation Protocol for FDA Pre-submission, defining the safety and usability testing framework for a SaMD in Samsung Health. Reduced time-to-market by 2 months and established reusable frameworks for future submissions.
Jun 2024 – Apr 2025
via Akraya · San Francisco, CA
Material Design SystemsMobileWearableQuant
Senior Mixed-Methods UX Researcher
Led Google's first quantitative mobile + smartwatch design systems study, unblocking Director-level sign-off on the Fitbit rebrand with statistically validated research. Improved rapid research velocity 30% through AI workflow integration across concurrent information architecture and AI feature studies, supporting the foundational Google Material Design adoption.
Apr 2022 – Mar 2023
Mountain View, CA · Google Research
Computer VisionAI0→1MobileWebWearable
UX Researcher
I led UXR from zero to launch for a novel computer vision app incubated inside Google Research, no established product, no prior research, two parallel software/hardware product surfaces. I improved accessibility, AI accuracy from 50→90%, and supported both a web and mobile beta launch to 100k internal users.
Aug 2021 – Jan 2022
Mountain View, CA
HealthMLB2BClinical DiscoveryAI/ML
UX Researcher
Delivered foundational B2B research for the Verily + Highmark Health + Google Cloud Living Health joint venture, establishing hospital user flows across clinicians, patients, and care coordinators for the third-largest integrated health care delivery and financing system in the United States ($32.4 billion in annual operating revenue). Findings directly shaped ML data collection strategy and database architecture, fulfilling a multi-million dollar SOW.
Feb – Aug 2021
Mountain View, CA
Comms0→1Digital StrategyIntranet
Internal Communications Manager
Researched, developedm and launched a intranet site for Verily Health Platforms on a 5-month timeline, enabling cross-company collaboration across 6 organizations and 250+ employees for multiple integrated 0→1 product launches.
Apr 2014 – Feb 2021
Mountain View, CA · 7 Years
Digital HealthProgram Mgmt
Health & Performance Team, Google
Managed digital health programs for 150,000+ Google employees, leading a 50-person team, and building 7 years of institutional teams and product knowledge that informs every research engagement since.
AI fluency

Research, augmented by AI

I treat AI tools as research infrastructure — not shortcuts.

Synthesis acceleration
Faster signal extraction from complex data
At Google, I refined AI analysis processes to extract signals from complex in-product data streams — improving team-wide efficiency and feature prioritization velocity.
Dovetail AIClaudeNotion AI
Conversational AI evaluation
Co-building tools to benchmark AI agents
Co-developed AI tools to automate conversational evaluation across AI subagents at Google Health — establishing KPI benchmarks for product adoption and CSAT at launch.
Custom eval toolingPrompt engineering
Workflow efficiency
30% faster research timelines
Developed AI implementation into UXR workflows at Google — improving rapid research timelines by 30% across a team running concurrent studies on health, wearables, and AI features.
ChatGPTClaudeGemini
This portfolio
Built with AI, authored by me
This site was designed and built in collaboration with Claude. Every credential and word of copy reflects my real work — AI handled the scaffolding, I provided the substance.
Claude SonnetNetlify
What I bring

Capabilities

Research across ecosystems — mobile, web, wearable, and the AI layers connecting them.

🔗
Ecosystem research
I research how users move across mobile apps, smartwatches, web, and AI agents — surfacing the seams and handoffs single-surface studies miss.
🔍
Foundational & Usability
Diary studies, contextual inquiry, semi-structured interviews, and iterative usability testing. I build the research foundation that gives teams confidence from 0→1 through launch.
🧪
Human Factors
Formative and summative usability testing, human factors validation protocols for regulated medical devices (SaMD/FDA), and concept testing across lab and remote formats.
📊
Quantitative fluency
Survey design, statistical analysis, regression modeling, A/B testing, behavioral data. SQL and Python. Comfortable running lean quant studies independently.
🤖
AI-assisted research
Active use of AI tools in synthesis, discussion guide pressure-testing, and stakeholder communication. 30% faster research timelines at Google through AI workflow integration.
🏥
Regulated health domains
Deep experience with HIPAA, SaMD, FDA Pre-submission, and clinical population research. Authored Human Factors Validation Protocol for Samsung's regulatory submission.
About

Rakh Hargett

Two decades working in health and wellness. 12 years at Google. A background in psychology, behavior change, ergonomics, and product development, and a career-long mission to improve the human experience through research that actually drives product direction.

My work lives at genuinely hard intersections: novel AI products with no established mental models, FDA-regulated medical devices where a missed insight has critical implications, health data visualizations where design choices affect whether someone understands their own body. I've developed a specific edge in researching across hardware-software ecosystems, understanding not just single-product UX but the handoffs and mental models users maintain across mobile, web, and wearable simultaneously (with contextual adaptation).

M.S. in User-Centered Design at Brandeis University (Research & Analytics track, expected 2026).

Outside of work: tea service, woodworking, dog training, and meditation.

Get in touch
Research methods
  • Semi-structured & longitudinal interviews
  • Diary & experience sampling studies
  • Formative & summative usability testing
  • Human factors validation
  • Concept & prototype testing
  • Survey design & statistical analysis
  • Workshop facilitation
Tools
  • Qualtrics, Dscout, UserTesting
  • Figma, Miro, Mural, FigJam
  • SQL, Python, Google Analytics
  • Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Dovetail AI
Education
  • M.S. User-Centered Design, Brandeis (exp. 2026)
  • B.A. Psychology, Warren Wilson College
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