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Tom Insel, the former head of\u00a0the\u00a0U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), has left his position at Google\u2019s life sciences company Verily to found\u00a0his own mental health startup, Mindstrong.<\/p>\n
First reported in Nature<\/a>, the new startup will try to analyze a person\u2019s mental health state using information on their smartphone. Note Verily\u00a0is working on a similar program to\u00a0build tools, possibly including smartphones, that can recognize behaviors of mental illness using a method known as digital phenotyping.<\/p>\n Insel\u00a0told Nature there are now \u201ca handful\u201d of companies working on digital phenotyping. Mindstrong takes a similar approach to gathering mental health data.<\/p>\n Verily hasn\u2019t yet launched its mental health component but has started on some of the initial work, according to Insel. We\u2019ve reached out to Verily to find out more about the possible competitive nature of Mindstrong and what Verily is working on.<\/p>\n Insel also said his departure was not because of any conflicts within Verily, which has lost several top\u00a0scientists<\/a> after the addition of its new\u00a0CEO Andrew Conrad.<\/p>\n Verily confirmed the departure Monday, stating on its blog, \u201cWe are bidding a fond farewell to Dr. Thomas Insel, who has helped shape our vision and to build a multidisciplinary team of mental health clinical researchers, data scientists, product designers, and software engineers, all passionately committed to rethinking the way we approach diagnosis and care in mental health. We look forward to carrying this vision forward!\u201d<\/p>\n Insel left<\/a> the NIMH to work with Verily on a mental health program in 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/05\/gettyimages-539665361.jpg?w=680\")
Tom Insel, the former head of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), has left his position at Google’s life sciences company Verily to found his own mental health startup, Mindstrong. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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