SilverCloud Health, a provider of a widely used platform for mental and behavioural health interventions was this week acquired by Amwell, a leading Telehealth company. The SilverCloud platform was developed as part of a translational research project led by Dr. Gavin Doherty of the School of Computer Science and Statistics at TCD, working with his postdoctoral researcher Dr. David Coyle, and in collaboration with the ParentsPlus charity and the National Digital Research Centre.
Bringing forward the results of the research project, the company was founded in 2012 by CEO Ken Cahill, TCD graduates James Bligh (CTO) and Karen Tierney (CPO), Dr. Sharry of ParentsPlus, and Dr. Doherty, head of the Health Technology Design group at TCD.
The platform is now used by hundreds of health services worldwide, and has been used to deliver clinician-supported evidence-based treatment to approximately 750,000 people. A key focus of the research was on supporting user engagement with treatment, and following spinout the company has conducted and supported an extensive program of clinical and human-computer interaction research, in collaboration with researchers in Computer Science and in Psychology at TCD and elsewhere.
Speaking about the acquisition, Dr. Doherty said: “Technology provides an important means to provide treatment and support in the area of mental health, and to do so at scale. Recent events have accelerated the adoption of Telehealth, strengthening what was already a clearly established trend. I’m delighted at the prospect of the technology we developed being made available to deliver evidence-based treatment to even larger numbers of people, and being integrated into a truly comprehensive approach to clinician-supported treatment.”
Posted by: Elaine Noone, Executive Officer, External Relations at the School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin.
Email: elnoone@tcd.ie