Dive Brief:
- The National Institute of Mental Health's director Dr. Thomas Insel, the longest serving since the founder, will be departing Nov. 1 to join Alphabet's (formerly Google) life sciences company.
- According to Wired, the move makes sense because Insel is a big advocate of objective laboratory measures to guide diagnosis. And as NIMH director, he pushed researchers to focus on genes and molecules behind specific symptoms and the biological causes of mental illness.
- Insel dismissed the 2013 revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for its "lack of validity."
Dive Insight:
The company has not revealed what he'll be doing as part of the life sciences team. However, a Google spokesperson, according to Wired, wrote, "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."
Insel said in his statement, "That the life sciences team at Google would establish a major exploration into mental health is by itself a significant statement - recognizing the burden of illness from psychosis, mood disorders and autism as well as the opportunity for technology to make a major impact to change the world for the millions affected."