Tag Archives: mental health

Health Transformers Live: Gray Oncology Solutions, Gennev, AvoMD, Valera Health



This week we wanted to break from our typical format and introduce you to four inspiring founders from the StartUp Health portfolio.

This episode is excerpted from an on-stage Health Transformer discussion that was held at the StartUp Health Festival @ ViVE in Miami Beach in March. You’ll hear from André Diamant, PhD, CEO & Founder of Gray Oncology Solutions, about how they’re improving efficiency in cancer care. Jill Angelo, CEO & Founder of Gennev, talks about how they’re improving women’s health in their post-reproductive years. Yair Saperstein, MD, CEO & Co-founder of AvoMD, explains how they’re crowdsourcing knowledge in order to put the best decision support tools in the palm of the physician’s hand. And finally, Tom Tsang, MD, CEO & Co-founder of Valera Health, explains how his company is bringing comprehensive mental health services to the virtual healthcare ecosystem.

The session was hosted by Lauren Schafer from StartUp Health. In addition to sharing the moonshot missions of each of their companies, they talk about changes seen in health innovation due to COVID’s impact, their biggest messages for partners and investors, and more.


Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com
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These Three Founders Are Upgrading the Mental Health Toolkit



This episode is part of our monthly Health Moonshot series. Last month it was all about brain health, today, we’re talking about founders and companies rethinking mental health and happiness. Areva Martin, CEO & Co-founder of Butterflly Health, has built a behavioral health platform that provides users with peer-to-peer support, therapist matching, access to coaching, and more. Kavi Misri, CEO & Founder of Rose Health, provides evidence-based mental health care for patients and providers on a platform built with tools and technology designed with the patient in mind. Lastly, Richard Hanbury, CEO & Founder of Sana Health, has developed a non-addictive simple mask and headphones that uses audiovisual stimulation to increase the balance between the left and right sides of the brain leading to greater relaxation.

In this episode, co-hosted by Logan Plaster and India Edwards, the three entrepreneurs break down their innovative solutions and how they’re advancing mental healthcare.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com
Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content.
Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.


For Margaret Laws, Innovation Springs From Co-Creation



Longtime friend of StartUp Health Margaret Laws has built a career on cross-sector, interdisciplinary partnerships. For 17 years, she served as the Director of Public Financing and Policy and the Director of Innovation for the Underserved program at the California Health Care Foundation. Today, as CEO and President of HopeLab, a social innovation lab founded and funded by the creators of eBay, she’s shifted her focus toward improving the health and wellbeing of adolescents. HopeLab’s multifactorial approach seeks to broach the many systemic and structural causes of mental illness in young people: “If there’s one thing that really requires multi-sectoral collaboration, this is it,” Laws says. At a recent Fireside Chat with StartUp Health co-founder Steven Krein, Laws explained how HopeLab’s uniquely holistic approach allows the company to tackle challenges from every angle.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com
Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content.
Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.


Former NFL Wide Receiver Torrey Smith Partners With Rose Health to Promote Mental Health Resilience



This week, two-time Super Bowl Champion and former Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith announced that he was joining mental health startup Rose Health as an ambassador and investor. On this episode, StartUp Health’s Logan Plaster catches up with Torrey to learn about life after the NFL, and why it was important for him to become an advocate for mental health resilience.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com

Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content. Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.


How LifeBio Is Using the Power of Storytelling to Improve Mental Health for Seniors



In 2020, the coronavirus caused a societal lock-down like this generation has never seen before. Many who were already isolated and lonely — like seniors – were put into a desperate situation. Beth Sanders, CEO and Co-founder of LifeBio, a startup that’s been with StartUp Health since 2014, has always had a heart for isolated and lonely seniors. She’d worked with them for years, helping them to tell their stories, using what’s called reminiscence therapy. But COVID-19 put LifeBio and this important work into overdrive. Not only was the work needed more than ever, but LifeBio was able to connect the dots between fighting loneliness and improving health outcomes. Turns out a phone call with a trained conversationalist can fight depression, anxiety and keep you mentally nimble. Their findings got the attention of health systems, insurance companies, and even won them a coveted SBIR grant. Logan Plaster, Media Director at StartUp Health, caught up with Sanders to learn more about how LifeBio works and the critical role of storytelling in healthcare in a post-COVID world.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com

Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content. Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.


Kavi Misri on Rose’s High Tech Approach to Predicting Depression and Expanding Access to Mental Health Services



Working 80 to 100 hours a week for 7 years in healthcare investment banking finally caught up to Kavi Misri, founder and CEO of Rose. Like many, he found himself burned out, depressed and in need of help. Looking for answers, Kavi was struck by how difficult it was for him to get basic mental health care. Knowing there had to be a better way, he founded Rose. Using natural language processing and deep learning to predict depression and mood disorder symptoms, Kavi and his team have created a high tech approach to assessing and predicting a patient’s mental health faster.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.healthmoonshots.com

Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content. Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.


One Health Transformer’s Decades-Long Journey to Cure Chronic Pain



23 years ago a car accident left Richard Hanbury with debilitating nerve pain that was so bad he was given just five years to live. While in recovery, he realized that a film was doing something to his brain that was providing greater pain relief than the morphine he was prescribed. It was this accidental discovery that inspired Hanbury to learn how he could use external neuromodulation to hack his own brain and cure his chronic pain. In this episode, StartUp Health’s Editor-in-Chief Logan Plaster sits down with Hanbury, CEO & Founder of Sana Health, to discuss his wearable device that reproduces that same neuromodulation in an effort to end all chronic pain.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.healthmoonshots.com

Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content. Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.


Kevin Dedner, Founder & CEO of Henry Health

Meet the Health Transformer Addressing Racial Disparities in COVID-19



Kevin Dedner launched Hurdle (fka Henry Health) in 2018 to address the mental health care gap for black men. Now, he’s expanding his vision for a culturally-competent mental health system with plans to offer Hurdle’s behavioral health services to other disenfranchised communities. In this episode of the StartUp Health NOW podcast, Dedner shares his vision for Hurdle’s next chapter and offers insights into the pandemic’s racial disparities.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.healthmoonshots.com

Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content. Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.


Michael Acton Smith

Mental Health in a COVID World



May is Mental Health Awareness Month and this year it coincides with one of the most challenging periods in the world’s recent history — the coronavirus pandemic. We’re taking a beat to talk about mental wellness in a COVID world, starting with this episode of the StartUp Health NOW podcast featuring Co-founder & CEO of Calm, the leading app for meditation and sleep.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.healthmoonshots.com

Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content. Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.


Stephen Sokoler, Journey Meditation

Meditation Together, Virtually: the App Helping Meditation Beginners During COVID-19



At Journey Meditation, Stephen Sokoler is rooting the practice of meditation back in its origins – community. In this episode, StartUp Health’s ventures team member Maxim Owen talks with Sokoler, Journey’s founder & CEO, to learn about the startup’s app, Journey LIVE. The app connects users with meditation instructors who lead group meditation classes that teach users how to become familiar with their thoughts and themselves, leading to greater calm, clarity, and peace of mind. And because peace of mind is something we all so desperately need during these turbulent times, Sokoler is offering the app for free throughout the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. Listen here, then visit this link to start your free trial.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.healthmoonshots.com

Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content. Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.