The director of the National Institute of Mental Health plans to step down in November and join Google Life Sciences, according to The New York Times.
A neuroscientist and psychiatrist, Thomas R. Insel, MD, has led the NIMH since 2002. His tenure with the institute has been marked by groundbreaking findings in the areas of practical clinical trials, autism research and the role of genetics in mental illnesses.
NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, has appointed Bruce Cuthbert, PhD, as acting director of NIMH until a permanent replacement is found.
Dr. Insel has said the details of his role at Google were not firm, although he noted the company is developing advanced technologies for better detection and prevention of illness, according to NYT. "I am joining the team to explore how this mission can be applied to mental illness," he wrote in a statement.
In a blog post from late August, Dr. Insel noted he had a "summer tour of tech companies, large and small," including visits to Apple, Google, IBM and Intel.
"Tech companies are realizing that mental health is, in their parlance, an excellent 'use case.' Just as important, online healthcare (especially mental healthcare) creates data that can serve to improve quality, including monitoring the fidelity of psychotherapy," he wrote. "In the future, when we think of the private sector and health research, we may be thinking of Apple and IBM more than Lilly and Pfizer."