After visiting Silicon Valley this summer for a tour of tech companies including Apple, Google and IBM, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health is coming back — this time to work here.
Google s life sciences division, now its own subsidiary of parent company Alphabet, said Tuesday that it has hired Thomas Insel, who since 2002 has run the branch of the National Institutes of Health that works on understanding and treating mental disorders.
Tom is coming on board to explore how the life sciences team at Google could have an impact on the huge challenges related to understanding, diagnosing, and treating mental illness, the company said in a statement. We re thrilled that he s joining the team and look forward to sharing more once he has a chance to get up and running.
Insel wrote a blog post in late August describing his visits to Silicon Valley tech giants and startups that are working on health ventures, noting that technology is not the answer to all problems, but it may help those with mental illness even more than those with other chronic, serious medical conditions. His post gave no hint that he planned on leaving to work in Silicon Valley.
Above: A screenshot from the blog of Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health who plans to join Google s life sciences division this fall.
