David Mou, after three years leading the virtual mental health company Cerebral, is embarking on a new venture. Teaming up with Thomas Insel, Mou hopes to correct what they see as problematic incentives that have led some mental health companies astray. Both psychiatrists, Mou and Insel are seasoned professionals in the field. Insel, who previously headed the National Institute of Mental Health for over a decade and later worked at Verily, has mentored Mou through several startups.
Insel, a serial entrepreneur himself, expressed his “frustration with the digital mental health space and the sense of promise that it brings, but also, so far, its failure to really deliver in terms of public health impact.”
Mou and Insel believe a framework similar to the Food and Drug Administration’s standards for safety and efficacy is needed to regulate the “wild west” of digital mental health. This aligns with the views of researchers and organizations, such as the Peterson Health Technology Institute, who are pushing for digital health services to demonstrate they achieve actual health outcomes that justify their costs.
