Speaker's Profile

Thomas R. lnsel, M.D., a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, has been a national leader in mental health research, policy, and technology.  From 2002-2015, Dr. Insel served as Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). More recently (2015 – 2017), he led the Mental Health Team at Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences) in South San Francisco, CA.  In 2017 he co-founded Mindstrong Health, a Silicon Valley start-up building tools for people with serious mental illness.  In 2020, he co-founded Humanest Care, a therapeutic online community for recovery.   Since May of 2019, he has been a special advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom and Chair of the Board of the Steinberg Institute in Sacramento, California. Dr. Insel is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has received numerous national and international awards including honorary degrees in the U.S. and Europe.