Akili

In honor of International Women’s Day, we want to talk about women and girls with ADHD! It’s time we spread awareness around how women experience ADHD to ensure they get the help, resources, and information they need to treat their symptoms and improve their quality of life. ADHD is often considered a cognitive impairment in young boys, but the reality is that women are severely underdiagnosed and misdiagnosed due to the fact that their symptoms can look different. To fix this misconception and discuss treatment methods, we brought together four incredible women to share their professional and personal experiences with ADHD in a panel moderated by none other than Chelsea Clinton. Huge thank you to our panelists Julia Schechter, PhD, Maria (Marie) Shanley, Jacqueline Trumbull, and Michelle Carter. Check out these highlights and visit our blog for more!

Proud to have the impact of EndeavorOTC acknowledged by Mass Technology Leadership Council Tech Top 50 nomination! It's been wonderful to hear from patients, providers, and families who have seen results from this innovative approach to treating ADHD; however, being honored by those in our industry is truly meaningful in a different way. Thank you, MTLC!

Core to Akili is the belief that quality evidence generation and clinical validation are paramount to digital therapeutics. Another great initiative we are proud to share this week is the study we've kicked off with Landmark College to incorporate EndeavorOTC into student mental health support, knowing how challenging distractibility can be throughout a student's academic career. We're thrilled to work with our partners at the Landmark College Institute for Research and Training to produce more data around incorporating a non-drug, effective option for treating attention and executive functioning into student life—and to think about what it could mean for education systems throughout the country. 

We're thrilled to share that our partner in Japan, Shionogi & Co., Ltd released the results from the phase 3 clinical trial (with localized version of EndeavorRx, SDT-001) this morning. SHIONOGI also announced the submission for nationwide marketing approval of SDT-001. “The latest Japanese clinical trial of our patented, clinically proven technology is an important milestone for many reasons,” said Dr. Scott Kollins, Chief Medical Officer at Akili. “It not only further validates the efficacy and safety of EndeavorRx, it also moves us and our international partner SHIONOGI a step closer to making the product available in Japan. https://lnkd.in/eccbSYrz

We’re looking forward to the hearing the leading researchers and educators present at Learning and the Brain "Teaching Engaged Brains" conference, taking place Feb 22-24! Virtual registration is still open and if you’re attending in person, make sure to swing by our Akili booth to learn how our products can help students improve attention and focus.

Akili’s Director of Medical Affairs, Caitlin Stamatis, PhD, will be a panelist at Midwest Business Group on Health's Annual Mental Health Forum on February 21st in Chicago! Tune in to learn how ADHD can impact the workplace and the different treatment options available for employers and individuals. Sign up here to attend virtually or in person and make sure to swing by the Akili booth to learn more. 

What an event! Last week, we were thrilled to welcome Dr. Chelsea Clinton Julia Schechter, PhD, Jacqueline Trumbull, Michelle Carter and Maria (Marie) Shanley to the stage in New York City to discuss their personal and professional experiences with ADHD. “Girls and women with ADHD might not show any [typical ADHD] behaviors because they often are masters at masking their symptoms. They come up with these elaborate systems and strategies to hide what is going on internally,” shared Dr. Julia Schechter on stage. This widespread phenomenon is what our Full Focus panel aimed to address: a fundamental misunderstanding and underdiagnosis of ADHD in girls and women. These four amazing panelists shared personal and professional insight on what it looks like to have ADHD as a student, a mother, an immigrant, an overachiever, and an Olympic athlete. Although it comes with challenges, those do not overshadow the creativity, excitement, drive and (perhaps most importantly) humor it also brings to our lives. Thank you to our panelists and attendees for the engaging and inspirational conversation! It’s just the beginning. #ADHD #ADHDawareness #womensupportingwomen #womeninscience #neurodiversity #mentalhealth #brainhealth Photos include: Dr. Chelsea Clinton, Michelle Carter, Dr. Julia Schechter, Jacqueline Trumbull, Marie "Mxiety" Shanley, and Caty Reid.

Huge thanks to Dana Dickey at PureWow for this timely story and for interviewing Kelly Grady, an EndeavorOTC user and advocate! Kelly's story builds on what we heard from the patients at our women-focused panel last week and what we continue to hear time and time again: women with ADHD are often told there is nothing wrong with them and they just need to "do better." As Kelly shares, "I went through school, then college and even grad school hearing the same unhelpful advice and judgements from my friends, roommates, teachers and even family. ‘Just get organized,’ ‘Make a list, that’s what I do,’ ‘You’re just lazy and procrastinating’ and ‘You need to wake up earlier.’ I tried and tried again to take peoples’ advice." A diagnosis can be life-changing; in Kelly's case, it was a profound sense of relief and improved self-understanding. However, patients with ADHD often need more than a diagnosis, they need treatment & management options that fit their life. So, here's to more patients getting the diagnosis they need and here's to more treatment options being available for patients! Check out the full story: https://lnkd.in/eGPESQvu

We’re looking forward to the American Professional Society for ADHD & Related Disorders (APSARD) annual meeting in Orlando this weekend, where Dr. Caitlin Stamatis, PhD, Akili’s Director of Medical Affairs and licensed clinical psychologist, will be presenting some key findings from our most recent research. We are presenting three posters during the 12:30-2:00 PM poster session and hope to see you there. As a sneak peek, the presentations will included: 1️⃣ A real-time cognitive metric for inattention that predicts ADHD-related clinical outcomes, known in the product itself as the Focus Score. 2️⃣ The differences in attention improvement between boys and girls as a result of using Akili’s digital ADHD treatment, EndeavorRX. 3️⃣ Our ongoing research approach to evaluating real-world efficacy of our digital ADHD treatment for adults, EndeavorOTC. Stay tuned for full summaries of our research coming soon!