A HealthTech firm which could transform how people鈥檚 mental health conditions are treated has named a world-leading academic as chief science officer.
Dr Nicholas Cummins, a lecturer in AI for speech analysis at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King鈥檚 College London, is stepping into the startup world.
Co-founded by neuroscientist Emilia Molimpakis and theoretical physicist Stefano Goria, Thymia is developing AI-powered video games, based on neuropsychology protocols, to make mental health assessments faster, more accurate and objective.
The startup raised 拢780,000 in pre-seed funding last year to develop their technology, expand their team and bring their pioneering mental health assessment tool to market. The round was led by Kodori AG and Calm/Storm.
Dr Cummins will draw on a decade of research into how multi-modal machine learning can help our understanding of mental health conditions to develop Thymia鈥檚 AI and machine learning technology. His work will focus on ensuring Thymia鈥檚 models are as effective as possible at ethically and conclusively detecting digital makers associated with mental illness.聽
He will also carry out in-depth analyses of the rich physiological data collected by Thymia to better understand how cognitive and neurological disorders operate and manifest. His analyses will be used to iterate and enhance the product on an ongoing basis, to ensure the platform鈥檚 clinical outputs are based on the very latest scientific research.
Dr Cummins will also lead ongoing investigations into how Thymia鈥檚 technology can be applied to a wide range of mental health conditions.
鈥淭he application of machine learning to mental health conditions has been the focus of my career ever since my bachelor’s degree,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o joining the Thymia team felt like a natural fit – and one which I鈥檓 hugely excited about.聽
鈥淚n my new role I鈥檒l be applying and expanding the research I鈥檝e carried out in my career thus far. I鈥檓 looking forward to transferring my knowledge to new environments and real-world challenges. Thymia is building tools which can directly improve patients鈥� lives and have a real human impact.聽
鈥淚 can鈥檛 think of anything more rewarding than that.鈥�
Dr Cummins will bring many years鈥� academic, scientific and health sector expertise to his new role. His current research focuses on speech processing, affective computing and multisensory signal analysis, as well as the use of machine learning to understand mental health conditions.聽
He has a PhD in Electrical Engineering and has collaborated in landmark projects focusing on speech analysis in medicine with prestigious academic institutions worldwide.聽
He currently teaches a module on AI in Healthcare Analytics on the Applied Statistical Modelling and Health Informatics postgraduate course at KCL, and has previously written and delivered courses in Deep Learning and Speech Pathology.聽
Emilia Molimpakis, CEO and co-founder of Thymia, commented: 鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 be more excited to be welcoming Dr Cummins onto the team. His wealth of technical knowledge and expertise around what we鈥檙e building knows no bounds and we鈥檙e honoured that he has chosen to join us at such a crucial time in our journey.
鈥淣ick will play a pivotal role in developing the fundamental machine learning models that underpin the Thymia platform as we prepare to roll out to clinics later this year. His expertise will be invaluable in ensuring our AI models are robust, ethical and as accurate as possible, so that we can deliver the very best clinical outputs.聽
鈥淗e has a vital role to play in ensuring we鈥檙e constantly improving and innovating to empower clinicians with better tools – and to ensure patients are receiving the very best care for their mental health.鈥�