Mental health: psychedelics & beyond, Florian Brand, CEO, & Srinivas Rao, CSO, atai Life Sciences

Synopsis: We recorded this episode in December 2022 with Florian Brand and Srinivas Rao, the Co-Founders and CEO & CSO, respectively, of atai Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company that leverages a decentralized platform approach to incubate and accelerate the development of highly effective mental health treatments that address the unmet needs of patients, including psychedelics and digital therapeutics. Florian and Srinivas provide an overview of the neuropsychiatry landscape, the history of psychedelics within mental health, and the role COVID played in increasing mental health awareness. They also discuss the model at atai around drug development and how they approach tackling such a massive unmet need. Finally, Florian talks about how self-awareness can lead to healthier habits and decision-making, and the importance of investing in therapy. Biography: Florian Brand is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of atai Life Sciences. Prior to joining atai, Florian was starting and building user-centric technology companies as a serial entrepreneur. Florian suffered from anxiety in his youth and was able to achieve remission through a combination of psychotherapy and robust meditation practice. It was ultimately his experiences seeing his friends and loved ones failed by the mental healthcare system that inspired him to join the movement to transform the treatment landscape for patients who have been unable to find relief in currently available therapies. In 2022, Florian was recognized in Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list spotlighting influential individuals shaping business and Business Insider’s 30 Under 40 in Healthcare. Florian was also featured in Endpoint News’ list of 20 Under 40 Innovators in Biotech in 2021. He is a proud member of the Founders Pledge, a global community of mission-aligned entrepreneurs dedicated to doing good. Srinivas Rao is the Chief Scientific Officer at atai Life Sciences. Dr. Rao has over 19 years of professional experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Prior to atai, Dr. Rao has held the titles of Chief Scientific, Medical, or Executive Officer at companies ranging from venture-backed startups to vertically-integrated, publicly-traded pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Rao completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He received his Ph.D. in neurobiology from Yale Graduate School and his M.D. from Yale School of Medicine. He holds both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Yale College and Yale Graduate School, respectively.