Engineering Mental Health

Neurotech Pub

This episode features Paradromics CEO Matt Angle in a compelling discussion with Amit Etkin, Founder and CEO of Alto Neuroscience; Maryam Shanechi, Dean's Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Neuroscience, Computer Science, and Biomedical Engineering at USC; and Prasad Shirvalkar, Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery, Neurology and Anesthesia at UC San Francisco. They delve into the intersection of neurotechnology and psychiatry, discussing innovative approaches to treating mental health disorders, the potential of machine learning models, and the challenges associated with obtaining and analyzing brain data. The discussion emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and the promising future of personalized therapies for psychiatric conditions. They also address the limitations of current diagnostic tools like the DSM and the need for scalable, real-world solutions.

Guest Quote:

“There's artificial intelligence and there's actual intelligence. And that actual intelligence, when it comes to analyzing data, I feel goes a really, really long way. True subject matter expertise.” - Amit Etkin

Timestamps:

*(00:00) Welcome to Neurotech Pub

*(00:45) Icebreaker: Unpopular Beliefs

*(05:36) Non-surgical brain activity recording and diagnostics

*(13:32) Understanding pain: Subjective reports vs. physical representations

*(16:33) Rethinking psychiatry and DSM alignment

*(21:07) Determining brain data needs and tool validation

*(26:47) The need for explainability in AI algorithms

*(35:49) Timescales in mental health interventions

*(41:22) Advice for aspiring neurotech researchers

*(46:25) Closing Thoughts

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