An Elizabethtown, Kentucky-based digital therapeutics company has added to its C-suite.
BehaVR, one of KY Inno's Startups to Watch in 2022, has named Dr. Risa Weisberg as its chief clinical officer.
Weisberg, a licensed clinical psychologist and expert in cognitive behavioral therapy, will be based in Boston, where she is a professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and an adjunct professor of family medicine at Brown University. She comes to BehaVR from the Boston Veterans Administration Healthcare System, where she served as the assistant chief of psychology, according to a news release.
Weisberg said BehaVR is setting a high bar for virtual reality experiences that can improve mental and behavioral health, and she is excited to join the team.
"More than ever, the world has an unmet need for effective, high-quality behavioral health treatment and there will never be enough well-trained providers to fill that need," she said in the release. "Extended reality has the power to be a true game-changer; to bring outstanding behavioral healthcare to the population at large. BehaVR is doing this, creating engaging and impactful therapeutic experiences built on research. I believe our solutions will be instrumental in quelling the world's behavioral health epidemics."
BehaVR called Weisberg a "prolific researcher" and noted she will be an integral leader for the company's mission. Her career to date has been dedicated to developing and studying means to increase the accessibility of high-quality behavioral health. Over the past two decades, her research has earned grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Veteran's Administration, among others.
"I am delighted to welcome Dr. Weisberg to the BehaVR team," said Aaron Gani, founder and CEO of BehaVR. "From our first meeting, it was clear to me that her passion for creating digitally scalable mental and behavioral health solutions was a perfect fit with BehaVR's purpose and mission.
"The unmet mental health needs in our global population are so acute and so massive, we can only make a meaningful impact via digital solutions that augment and provide a force multiplier for the caring clinical professionals doing their best to stem the tide. Dr. Weisberg's deep clinical and research experience and broad circle of influence in the clinical community will supercharge our work to address the challenge."
The new hire comes roughly two months after BehaVR landed a major deal with Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co. to develop and commercialize both prescription digital therapeutics and general wellness products for treatment of social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. Gani told me in October that his company is expanding its presence in Boston, as Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co's U.S. office is in Boston, as well as its subsidiary Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc., which will commercialize BehaVR's products.
