What if fixing mental healthcare isn’t about replacing clinicians—but finally giving them the systems they’ve always lacked?

In this episode of Neural Compass, Dr. Harry Ritter, founder and CEO of Alma, joins Jimini’s Mark Jacobstein to explore how technology, insurance alignment, and new business models can unlock better mental health care at scale. Drawing on his experience as a physician, lawyer, and former Oscar Health executive, Harry explains why behavioral health has lagged in tech adoption, how the pandemic permanently reshaped care delivery, and why empowering independent clinicians may be the fastest path to access, quality, and sustainability.

They cover:

- Why behavioral health remained tech-averse for so long—and what changed

- How Alma helps thousands of independent therapists accept insurance and scale

- The hidden systems failures between payers, providers, and patients

- Where AI can remove administrative burden without replacing clinicians

- Why mental health may be the most powerful lever for preventive care

Learn more: jiminihealth.com

Why do some people emerge from trauma resilient, while others carry its effects for decades—or even generations?

In this episode of Neural Compass, Harvard neuroscientist and psychiatrist Dr. Nikos Daskalakis joins Jimini’s Mark Jacobstein to unpack the biology of stress and PTSD. Drawing on decades of research spanning animal models, post-mortem human brain studies, and cutting-edge multi-omics, Dr. Daskalakis explains how genetics, early life stress, and later trauma interact to shape vulnerability, resilience, and mental health outcomes. The conversation explores how glucocorticoid signaling, immune–brain communication, and cell-type-specific transcriptional changes complicate our understanding of PTSD—and why simple, one-size-fits-all treatments continue to fall short.

They cover:

* The “three-hit” model of stress: genetics, early life experience, and adult trauma

* Why cortisol and glucocorticoid signaling matter—but aren’t the whole story

* What single-cell and multi-omic brain studies reveal about PTSD versus depression

* The unresolved question of whether trauma can be biologically transmitted across generations

Learn more: jiminihealth.com

What if the answers to mental health, aging, and disease have been encoded inside us all along?

In this episode of Neural Compass, geneticist and entrepreneur Dr. Yaniv Erlich joins Jimini’s Mark Jacobstein to explore how data science and molecular biology are converging to reshape precision medicine. Dr. Erlich discusses everything from decoding the human genome to stabilizing RNA for next-generation therapeutics. Along the way, he reflects on why psychiatric traits are highly heritable, what twin studies really reveal, and why biotech innovation moves at a very different pace than tech.

They discuss:

- How next-generation sequencing revolutionized the study of information in DNA

- The unexpected link between genealogy databases and personalized medicine

- Why stabilizing RNA could make genetic therapies last longer and work better

- The genetics behind mental health—and what we still don’t understand about it

Learn more: jiminihealth.com

What if the next breakthrough in mental health isn’t a molecule—but a mindset?

In this episode of Neural Compass, PsyMed Ventures co-founders Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky join Jimini’s Mark Jacobstein to trace their journey from tech founders to frontier investors betting on the brain. They share how personal experiences with therapy and psychedelics reshaped their view of healing, and why the future of mental health may depend on tools that don’t just treat illness—but expand human potential.

They cover:

- How psychedelics opened the door to a new kind of neuroscience investing

- Why the “century of the brain” will blur the lines between treatment and enhancement

- The business and ethical challenges of funding radical innovation

- What flourishing—not just recovery—could look like in the decades ahead

Learn more: jiminihealth.com

What happens when the tools we build to understand us start to change what it means to be human?

In this episode of Neural Compass, Stanford’s Dr. Nick Haber—computer scientist, educator, and co-founder of the Autism Glass Project—joins Jimini’s Mark Jacobstein to explore how AI is entering some of the most human spaces: learning, emotion, and mental health.

From wearable devices that help children with autism recognize emotion to new research on large language models in therapy, Dr. Haber examines both the promise and the peril of AI that seems to “care.”

They cover:

- How wearable AI helped children with autism connect through emotion recognition

- Why today’s chatbots still miss critical signs of distress—and what that reveals about human empathy

- How AI might train, not replace, the next generation of therapists

- Why the line between assistive and autonomous AI may define the future of care

Learn more: jiminihealth.com

In this episode of Neural Compass, Mike Kopko—CEO and co-founder of Pearl Health—joins Jimini’s Mark Jacobstein to explore how value-based care, provider enablement, and intelligent incentives could finally help us build the system we deserve.

They cover:

- Why physicians—not hospitals or payers—are the key to real health care transformation

- How value-based care forces a shift from rear-view to windshield thinking

- What makes primary care the most underleveraged force in the system

- Why mental health interventions struggle for investment—and how to change that

- The real promise of AI: getting the right care to the right person, at the right time

Learn more: jiminihealth.com

What happens when decades of groundbreaking neuroscience challenge everything we thought we knew about depression?

In this episode of Neural Compass, Dr. John Krystal—Chair of Psychiatry at Yale and the scientist whose lab discovered the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine—joins Jimini’s Mark Jacobstein to explore how novel treatments are reshaping the future of mental health.

They cover:

- The story behind ketamine’s unexpected antidepressant effects

- Why depression may be rooted in the cortex—not just monoamines

- How synaptic regrowth fuels resilience and recovery

- The promise and perils of psychedelics as clinical therapies

Learn more: jiminihealth.com

What does it actually take to deliver high-quality behavioral health care to hundreds of thousands of people?

In this episode of Neural Compass, Dr. Stephanie Eken—Chief Medical Officer at Acadia Healthcare—joins Jimini’s Mark Jacobstein to talk about what works (and what still doesn’t) in the real-world mental health system.

They cover:

- Why navigating care is still so hard—for patients, families, and even physicians

- The surprising promise of AI and ambient tech in closing the fidelity gap

- What schools, churches, and state fairs have to do with early intervention

- Why loneliness, stigma, and gender norms still shape how (and if) people get care

Learn more: jiminihealth.com

In this episode of Neural Compass, David Eagleman—Stanford neuroscientist, bestselling author of Livewired, and one of today’s leading communicators of brain science—joins Jimini’s Mark Jacobstein to explore the astonishing adaptability of the human brain and its implications for therapy, technology, and society.

They cover:

- Why Eagleman calls the brain livewired—not “plastic”—and how it constantly reshapes itself

- How neuroplasticity is central to everything from therapy to psychedelics to brain stimulation

- The promise of sensory substitution—from helping deaf individuals “hear” through vibrations to new frontiers in brain–computer interfaces

- The legal and ethical questions raised when brain science meets crime, culpability, and justice

- The future of human–AI interaction—from companion robots to algorithms that could reduce polarization instead of fueling it

Learn more: jiminihealth.com

What happens when a McKinsey alum with a personal history of OCD turns his analytical superpowers toward fixing mental health care?

In this episode of Neural Compass, Steve Duke—founder of the Hemingway Group and author of the must-read Hemingway Report—joins Jimini’s Mark Jacobstein for a compelling conversation on the present (and future) of behavioral health.

They cover:


- Why the mental health system rewards what’s reimbursable—not necessarily what works


- How AI is already being used for emotional support—and what we aren’t talking about enough


- The trust paradox of conversational agents in mental health


- How loneliness, sleep, and social connection are massively underleveraged interventions


- What the rise of run clubs and cold plunges might teach us about health tech adoption

Learn more: jiminihealth.com