Technology in Psychiatry Summit

Tremendous advances in science and technology have enabled greater understanding of the brain, yet mental health care remains inaccessible and inadequate for much of the world’s population.

McLean Hospital’s Institute for Technology in Psychiatry (ITP) brings together thought leaders in health care, data science, technology, industry, patient advocacy, academic research, and more for this two-day summit to build on the promise of technology in the diagnosis and delivery of mental health care.

This event is targeted at an inclusive group of academics, data scientists, clinicians, technology developers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, investors, patient advocates, and health professionals who are interested in shaping the future of mental health care.

The ITP partners with like-minded organizations looking to integrate technology into the field of psychiatry to improve research and care. If you are interested in affiliating your brand with the Technology in Psychiatry Summit, please contact the ITP.

2020 Summit

The 2020 Technology in Psychiatry Summit will be held on October 26-27, 2020 at Harvard Medical School’s Joseph B. Martin Conference Center in Boston.

Registration opens soon.

Deep discounts are available to students and academic trainees. Contact the ITP for details.

2019 Summit

The Future of Mental Health Across the Life Span

As research around digital psychiatry rapidly expands, it has become evident that there remains a vast potential for the application of technology across clinical populations. The 2019 summit will focus on understanding how the application of technology varies among children, adolescents, young adults, and older adults. The conference will further explore how technology can enhance care in major neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism and dementia. For the first time, the meeting will also invite panel proposals from researchers around the world. With this in mind, the theme of the summit will be “The Future of Mental Health Across the Life Span.”

With keynote addresses, panel discussions, and a poster session, attendees will examine the evolving state of global mental health efforts, cutting-edge trends in neurosciences, and new technologies and analytical tools that are cross-cutting traditionally separate disciplines to help address some of the world’s most challenging mental health problems.

Keynote Speakers

Molly Coye, MD, MPH, is executive in residence at AVIA, the leading network for health systems seeking to innovate and transform through the deployment of digital solutions. At AVIA, she is the executive sponsor for the Medicaid Transformation Project, which brings together more than 20 health systems to focus on care models and scalable solutions addressing the needs of vulnerable populations. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine), a member of the Board of Directors of Aetna, Inc., and founded and led HealthTech, which became the premier forecasting organization for emerging technologies in health care. She has previously served as commissioner of Health for the State of New Jersey and director of the California State Department of Health Services.

Saul Levin, MD, MPA, FRCP-E, is the chief executive officer and medical director of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). He previously was the head of the Department of Health of Washington, DC, vice president for Science, Medicine & Public Health for the American Medical Association, and the president & CEO of MESAB (Medical Education for South Africans Blacks), an educational trust started during apartheid to provide medical and professional scholarships for Blacks to become doctors, dentists, and health care professionals. His career has focused on integrating primary care, mental health, and substance use disorders, for which he received the Royal College of Physicians fellowship. He is a full professor at Department of Psychiatry, George Washington University.

Wendy Nilsen, PhD, is a program director for the Smart and Connected Health Program in the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering at the National Science Foundation. She is co-chair of the Health Information Technology Research and Development Program. Her work includes convening workshops to address methodology in mobile technology research, leading training institutes, and serving on numerous federal technology initiatives. Her interests span the areas of sensing, analytics, cyber-physical systems, information systems, big data and robotics, as they relate to health. Previously, she worked at the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR).

Panels

Digital Mental Health and Aging: Emerging Perspectives

• Stephen Bartels, MD, MS, The Mongan Institute
• Keith Fargo, PhD, Alzheimer’s Association
• Antonia Holway, PhD, Digital Cognition Technologies
• Bettina Husebø, MD, PhD, University of Bergen
• Moderator: Gary Gottlieb, MD, Harvard Medical School

Intensive Longitudinal Assessment of Health & Behavior

• Stephen Intille, PhD, Northeastern University
• Inbal (Billie) Nahum-Shani, MA, PhD, University of Michigan
• Matthew Nock, PhD, Harvard University
• Donna Spruijt-Metz, MFA, PhD, University of Southern California
• Dana Wolff-Hughes, PhD, National Institutes of Health
• Moderator: Justin T. Baker, MD, PhD, McLean Hospital

Digital Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Emerging Perspectives

• Anne Marie Albano, PhD, Irving Medical Center, Columbia University
• Melissa Brotman, PhD, National Institute of Mental Health
• Helen Egger, MD, Langone Health, New York University
• Anthony Sossong, MD, MS, McLean Hospital
• Moderator: Robert Accordino, MD, Quartet Health

What Makes Clinical Research/Work in Digital Psychiatry Ethical?

• Laura Germine, PhD, McLean Hospital
• Roscoe Brady, MD, PhD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• James Wilkins, MD, DPhil, McLean Hospital
• Robert Schleipman, MSc, PhD, Partners HealthCare
• Moderator: Benjamin Silverman, MD, McLean Hospital

Breakout Panel A: Data-Driven Approaches to Care

• Carla Agurto, PhD, IBM
• Sahib Khalsa, MD, PhD, Laureate Institute for Brain Research
• Gil G. Noam, EdD, McLean Hospital
• Shifali Singh, PhD, Rush University Medical Center
• Moderator: Daniel Smith, PhD, Alkermes

Breakout Panel B: Can Digital Approaches Reduce Negative Clinical Outcomes in Psychiatry?

• Ryan Buckland, AB, Brown Center for Biomedical Informatics
• David Mou, MD, MBA, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Rajvee Vora, MD, MS, Mount Sinai Hospital
• Moderator: Yuri Maricich, Pear Therapeutics

Breakout Panel C: Towards Better Health and Better Access to Healthcare

• Sophiya Benjamin, MBBS, FRCPC, McMaster University
• Caroline Figueroa, MD, PhD, UC Berkeley
• Karen Fortuna, PhD, MSW, Dartmouth College
• Noah Robinson, BSc, Vanderbilt University
• Moderator: Shelly F. Greenfield, MD, MPH, McLean Hospital

Breakout Panel D: How Can the ‘Digital Footprint’ Impact Research and Care in Psychiatry?

• David Benrimoh, MD, CM, MSc, McGill University
• Rachel Ostrand, PhD, IBM Research
• Shirley Wang, AM, Harvard University
• Moderator: John Torous, MD, MBI, Harvard Medical School

Schedule at a Glance

Monday, October 28

• 8:00-8:30am – Coffee and Pastries
• 8:30-8:55am – Opening Remarks: Kerry J. Ressler, MD, PhD
• 8:55-9:15am – Summit Walk Through: Ipsit Vahia, MD
• 9:15-10:45am – Panel: Digital Aging, Mental Health, and Technology: Emerging Perspectives
• 10:45-11:00am – Coffee Break
• 11am-12pm – Keynote Address: Wendy Nilsen, PhD
• 12:00-1:00pm – Lunch Break
• 1:00-2:30pm – Panel: Intensive Longitudinal Assessment of Health & Behavior
• 2:30-2:45pm – Coffee Break
• 2:45-3:45pm – Keynote Address: Molly Coye, MD, MPH
• 3:45-4:00pm – Coffee Break
• 4:00-5:30pm – Panel: Digital Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Emerging Perspectives
• 5:30-7:00pm – Reception and Poster Session

Tuesday, October 29

• 8:30-9:00am – Coffee and Pastries
• 9:00-10:30am – Panel: What Makes Clinical Research/Work in Digital Psychiatry Ethical?
• 10:30-10:45am – Coffee Break
• 10:45am-12pm – Keynote Address: Saul Levin, MD, MPA, FRCP-E
• 12:00-1:15pm – Lunch
• 1:15-2:45pm – Breakout Session 1: Panels A and D
• 2:45-3:00pm – Coffee Break
• 3:00-4:30pm – Breakout Session 2: Panels B and C
• 4:30-4:45pm – Closing Remarks: Kerry J. Ressler, MD, PhD

Become a Sponsor

Our initiative to build a more accessible future is made possible by the support of gracious companies with like-minded goals. Become a sponsor of the 2019 Technology in Psychiatry Summit to help us further our mission to close the gaps between study and practice in mental health care.

BECOME A SPONSOR

Sponsorship Levels

Diamond Sponsor ($25,000)

• Networking reception sponsorship
• Recognition by ITP leadership during the event
• Table in vendor expo for demonstrations
• Full page color ad and listing as sponsor in event program
• Ten event tickets
• Logo featured on summit website
• Social media announcement when sponsorship is arranged
• Identification as sponsor in the ITP newsletter

Platinum Sponsor ($20,000)

• Poster session sponsorship
• Table in vendor expo for demonstrations
• Half page color ad and listing as sponsor in event program
• Eight event tickets
• Logo featured on summit website
• Social media announcement when sponsorship is arranged
• Identification as sponsor in the ITP newsletter

Gold Sponsor ($10,000)

• Lunch sponsorship
• Table in vendor expo for demonstrations
• Listing as sponsor in event program
• Six event tickets
• Logo featured on summit website
• Social media announcement when sponsorship is arranged
• Identification as sponsor in the ITP newsletter

Silver Sponsor ($5,000)

• Coffee break sponsorship
• Table in vendor expo for demonstrations
• Listing as sponsor in event program
• Four event tickets
• Logo featured on summit website

Copper Sponsor ($2,500)

• Listing as sponsor in event program
• Two event tickets

For more information on sponsoring the 2019 Technology in Psychiatry Summit, please contact Sue DeMarco at 617.855.3451.

2019 Sponsors

We wish to thank the 2019 sponsors of the Technology in Psychiatry Summit.

Gold

Silver

AE Foundation

Copper

We are also grateful for the support of our past sponsors.

Highlights from the 2018 Summit

The theme of the 2018 Technology in Psychiatry Summit was “Closing Gaps in Translation.” Lectures and panels covered the topic in the sense of using technology and pervasive sensing approaches to advance the detailed cross-species study of behavior in order to help bridge the human-nonhuman translational gap, as well as applying these approaches to improve mental health in under-resourced areas both globally and in the US.

Keynote speakers included Michelle A. Williams, SM, ScD, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Alex “Sandy” Pentland, PhD, MIT Connection Science and Human Dynamics Labs, and Bruce Cuthbert, PhD, NIMH Research Domain Criteria

Highlights from the 2017 Summit

The 2017 Technology in Psychiatry Summit was a first of its kind event targeted at bringing together the nation’s top technology and mental health experts to build on the promise of technology in the diagnosis and delivery of mental health care. Among the who’s who of presenters were Tom Insel, MD, former NIMH director, Ken Duckworth, MD, of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Roz Picard, ScD, of the Affective Computing Research Group at MIT, and Sarah Lenz Lock, JD, of the AARP.

Technology and Psychiatry

Mental Health Overview

Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the US—43.8 million, or 18.5%—experiences mental illness in a given year. (NAMI)

High income nations, on average, spend 5% of total health spending on mental health; for lower middle-income countries the figure is less than 2%. (WHO report)

Mental health workers account for only 1% of the global health workforce and 45% of the world’s population lives in a country with less than one psychiatrist per 100,000 people. (APA report)

Digital Technology Overview

Nearly nine-in-ten Americans today are online, up from about half in the early 2000s. (Pew Research Center)

Roughly 3/4 of Americans (77%) now own a smartphone. (Pew Research Center)

• 92% 18-29 year olds vs. 42% 65+ year olds
• 54% less than high school vs. 89% college grads
• <$30k = 64%, >$75k = 93%
• It was only 68% ownership in 2015 and 35% in 2011 (Pew 2015)

Today just over one-in-ten American adults are “smartphone-only” internet users—meaning they own a smartphone, but do not have traditional home broadband service. (Pew Research Center)

The Digitally Unreached

13% of Americans don’t use the internet. (Pew September 2016)

• 1/3 of non-internet users (34%) did not go online because they had no interest in doing so or did not think the internet was relevant to their lives.
• Another 32% of non-internet users said the internet was too difficult to use, including 8% of this group who said they were “too old to learn.”
• Cost was also a barrier for some adults who were offline—19% cited the expense of internet service or owning a computer.
• 41% of US adults aged 65+ are not online. (Pew September 2016)

Digital Technology in Schizophrenia

90% of the individuals in this survey (NAMI survey, plus academic source) owned more than one digital device such as a personal computer, tablet, or smartphone. 54% had access to smartphones compared to 64% of all Americans. Many survey respondents use their devices to cope with mental illness:

• 42% by blocking or managing auditory hallucinations with music or audio files
• 38% for health information on the internet
• 37% for calendar reminders
• 32% for transportation and map needs
• 28% for medication management
• 26% for supporting others
• 26% for developing relationships with other persons with schizophrenia
• 25% for monitoring symptoms
• 24% for identifying coping strategies

Digital Tech in Mental Illness (Overall)

Most (72%-97%) patients with mental illness have reported the use of mobile phones for activities other than spoken conversations such as sending emails, web browsing, and social networking. (National Medical Journal of India)

Individuals with severe mental illness: “93% owned cellphones, 78% used text messaging, 50% owned smartphones, and 71% used social media such as Facebook.” (Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal)

Telepsychiatry and the Opportunity for Digital

“The average 18-25 year-old checks their phone 56 times/day.” (Bridianne O’Dea, TEDxYouth@Sydney) The phone is a direct portal.

“The global telehealth market is expected to be worth US$ 34.27 billion by the end of 2020, with North America being the largest market globally accounting for more than 40% of the global market size.” (HITconsultant)

“Three in five Americans are open to virtual support service options (e.g., video conference calls) with pharmaceutical companies to help them understand medications. This is especially true with millennials, as 70% want to leverage these modern technologies to communicate with their drug providers.” (Salesforce 2017 Connected Patient Report)

“Nearly three in four Americans (72%) say it’s important that their health insurance providers use modern tools—such as live chat/instant message and two-way video—when communicating with them.” (Salesforce 2017 Connected Patient Report)

“A majority of Americans currently communicate with their doctors via traditional channels to schedule appointments, with 80% using the phone.” (Salesforce 2017 Connected Patient Report)

Access to Care and Pressing Need

Insurance companies: “Millennials are more than three times as likely than baby boomers (26% vs. 7%) to use their insurance companies to find health care providers.” (Salesforce 2017 Connected Pt Report)

Serious mental illness costs America $193.2 billion in lost earnings per year. (NAMI)

Mood disorders, including major depression, dysthymic disorder and bipolar disorder, are the third most common cause of hospitalization in the US for both youth and adults aged 18-44. (NAMI)

Smartphone ownership: “There are no differences in smartphone ownership among different racial and ethnic groups.” (Pew Research Center)

If there’s parity in tools, that means we can have parity in methods and quality of care delivered digitally.