Scaling Mental Health Care with AI
Meet Alison Darcy, Ph.D.:
Meet Alison Darcy, Ph.D. is the President and Founder of Woebot Health. Previously, she was an Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Darcy was a Senior Investigator for DSM5 Field Trials in association with the American Psychiatry Association and Stanford University. She also previously co-founded UPR-Online. Dr. Darcy received a bachelor’s and Ph.D. in Psychology from University College Dublin.
Key Insights:
Woebot is a digital mental health robot that patients can chat to whenever they need.
- Scalable Mental Healthcare. Dr. Darcy saw that there is a far greater need for mental healthcare than there are resources. This issue was further exacerbated by COVID-19. Fundamentally, mental health infrastructure isn’t scalable, which led her to found Woebot.
- Mental Health Ally. Woebot doesn’t replace therapy, rather its complimentary. It helps encourage self-directed mental health care and enables patients to better engage in the practices they learn during therapy sessions.
- Economic Headwinds. Dr. Darcy thinks health startups need to be particularly strategic about demonstrating the cost savings they can provide. This is especially challenging for preventative healthcare initiatives, which may not immediately reveal a return on investment.
This episode is hosted by Tarun Kapoor, M.D. He is a member of the Advisory Council for Day Zero and is the Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Transformation Officer at Virtua Health.
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