The recipients of the 2022 Implementation Leadership Award for the United States are co-founders of Wysa, Ramakant Vempati and Jo Aggarwal.

Ramakant and Jo had a vision to make mental health easy for everyone irrespective of stigma, affordability, awareness and social support. To say that they are well on their way to achieving their vision is an understatement. Together, these innovators have created a global service that has facilitated over 400 million conversations in 65 countries across the globe so far.

They co-founded Wysa only 6 years ago and it is already a global leader in artificial intelligence-driven mental health support, available to individuals directly, through healthcare providers and employer benefits programs. They support users with the help of an “emotionally intelligent” conversational agent. The bot uses evidence-based cognitive-behavioral techniques, meditation, breathing, and mindfulness exercises, as well as micro-actions to help users build mental resilience skills. For those who need additional support, they also offer the option to sign up for sessions with a mental health professional.

And it doesn’t stop here. The team at Wysa continue to innovate, with Hindi language extensions and enabling even more accessibility with a WhatsApp version of the service.

The scale at which these innovators are operating is now staggering, without compromising quality. With a 4.8 to 4.9 out of 5 star rating across hundreds of thousands of reviews and adoption by the NHS and the Ministry of Health Singapore, they have really broken through the barriers that are faced by most health tech innovators.

Our referees for this award were effusive in their praise:

“Firstly, their commitment to solving the problem. Whether it is deciding who their investors should be, or how their product roadmap should evolve, they go back to their problem statement and ask – will this help us solve the problem?

Secondly, their commitment to accepting reality and moving forward from there – even if it means admitting they were wrong and changing directions.

Lastly, their clinical rigour and data-driven iterative approach in figuring out what works and what does not. Wysa was a result of four major product pivots and almost eight hundred iterations based on listening to their users and the research. Coupled with their FDA breakthrough device designation, they are also taking their clinical validation to the next level.”

Today’s award recipients are directly and indirectly impacting the way the world is now thinking about solving for mental health.

Congratulations Ramakant, Jo and the team at Wysa!