Convergence Mental Health : A Transdisciplinary Approach to Innovation

Modern mental health issues are characterized by their complex, multi-systemic nature and broad societal impact, making them poorly suited to siloed approaches of thinking and innovation. Convergence science integrates knowledge, tools, and thought strategies from various fields and is the focal point where novel insights arise. Convergence Mental Health presents a blueprint for leveraging convergence science within the context of mental health in order to improve patient outcomes and health care systems.

Harris A. Eyre, MBBS PhD, is a Brain Health Venture Executive, Diplomat and Author. He is President and Chief Medical Officer of Prodeo, which specializes in the commercialization of brain health technologies. Harris is focus on catalyzing transformational change in the brain health sector by leveraging frontier technologies, entrepreneurship, responsible innovation, convergence science and diplomacy.

Michael Berk is an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow at Deakin University, where he heads the IMPACT institute. He is listed by Thompson Reuters as amongst the world's most influential scientific minds (2015-2019) and was awarded the Brain & Behaviour (NARSAD) Colvin Award for Mood Disorders in 2015 and the Victoria Prize for life sciences in 2019. He is past president of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders and the Australasian Society for Bipolar and Depressive Disorders. His major interests are in the discovery and implementation of novel therapies.

Helen Lavretsky, MD, MS is a professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the Jane and Terry Semel Institute and the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA. She directs the Integrative psychiatry research and clinical program. She is a geriatric and integrative psychiatrist with a research program in novel treatments for geriatric depression and integrative mental health using mind-body interventions. She is also a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. She is the recipient of the 2020 Jack Weinberg APA award for career in geriatric psychiatry and the American College of Psychiatrists research award in geriatric psychiatry.


Charles F. Reynolds III, MD, is a NIH-sponsored physician-scientist addressing prevention and treatment of depression in older adults in primary care and specialty mental health settings, in high-, middle-,and low-income countries. Recipient of the 2016 Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Herbert Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health; and of an NIMH MERIT award and Research Scientist Award. Elected member, Association of American Physicians. Editor-in-Chief: American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. Previous service on three Institute of Medicine study panels and on the NIMH National Advisory Mental Health Council; and past President of the American College of Psychiatrists, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.