Atentiv Health Chief Medical Officer Barry K. Herman M.D. MMM Joins Project Healthy Minds® Board of Directors
National leader in child & adolescent psychiatry and health tech joins Project Healthy Minds to deepen clinical expertise and expand access to mental health care
New York, August 9, 2021 — Project Healthy Minds, a new millennial / Gen Z-driven mental health non-profit startup, today announced the appointment to its Board of Directors of Dr. Barry Herman, a senior physician executive, Board Certified psychiatrist, and the Chief Medical Officer of Atentiv Health. Dr. Herman brings 25 years of leadership in the managed care, pharmaceutical and digital therapeutic device industries, having worked at leading biopharma companies including Pfizer Inc., Sanofi U.S., and Shire Pharmaceuticals.
“It is incomprehensible to me how – during a time when cryptocurrencies are being mined online, private companies are taking entrepreneurs to space, and groceries can be ordered and delivered in under 10 minutes – as a society, we allow it to be so difficult and time-consuming to find mental health services. As we confront the next wave of this pandemic – which has exacerbated the already-urgent mental health crisis – there couldn’t be a more urgent moment to build a free digital discovery marketplace for mental health services,” said Phillip Schermer, Founder & CEO of Project Healthy Minds. “I am so grateful that Dr. Herman, who is a national leader in child & adolescent psychiatry and on the frontlines of the digital health revolution, is joining the Project Healthy Minds team.”
The growing mental health crisis, which was already at epidemic levels pre-pandemic, is now a center-stage issue. Fifty-one percent (51%) of respondents to a recent Project Healthy Minds survey said the pandemic made it harder to get mental health services and support; depression symptoms in US adults have increased threefold during the pandemic (JAMA); one in four young people have seriously contemplated suicide during the pandemic (CDC); and experts are projecting a 50% increase in total mental health cases post-pandemic (McKinsey).
Project Healthy Minds addresses this lack of accessible mental health resources by focusing on three key pillars:
- Building a free, consumer-friendly, one-stop digital mental health marketplace to make it easier and faster to find mental health services;
- Designing a multi-platform anti-stigma campaign featuring culture-makers and influencers; and
- Engaging the business community to expand mental health support for employees.
“Across my 30+ year career, I have never seen a more urgent moment for mental health in our country. Given the precipice we’re standing at right now, confronting the mental health crisis is nothing less than a moral imperative,” said Dr. Herman, a recipient of the American Psychiatric Association Award in Administrative Psychiatry. “As someone who started his career fulfilling a National Health Service Corps service obligation as the only child psychiatrist for a population of more than 500,000 people in Northeast Arkansas, I know first-hand how difficult it can be for patients to find any type of mental health support. That’s why I’m so excited to join the Project Healthy Minds team: their vision for the world’s first free digital mental health marketplace is inspiring, revolutionary, and desperately needed.”
Dr. Barry Herman’s full bio is below;
Barry K. Herman, M.D., MMM is a dual Board Certified Psychiatrist in both Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Adult Psychiatry with over 25 years of medical executive and entrepreneurial experience in the managed care, pharmaceutical, and now digital health industries. He is currently Chief Medical Officer of Atentiv Health, a digital health specialty provider.
About Project Healthy Minds
Project Healthy Minds is a millennial-driven non-profit startup focused on tackling one of the defining issues of our generation: the growing mental health crisis. Project Healthy Minds builds anti-stigma campaigns that change attitudes, technology that makes it easier and faster to discover help, and programs and partnerships that expand access to care.
To learn more, please visit: www.projecthealthyminds.com
Media Contact:
Robby Tepper
Robby.tepper@fgh.com
