Articles and research from our team on the future of mental healthcare for young adults.

Mantra Health recruits VPs from Noodle, Tempest and NOCD, the #1 telehealth provider of OCD treatment. 

New hires include Yiwen Looi as VP of Marketing, Hunter Davis as VP of Engineering, Allie Schwartz as VP of People, Alex Xu as VP of Virtual Care Operations, and Kelly Carleton was promoted to VP of Program Success.

The new leadership team joins Mantra as the company continues to expand its footprint to provide the most clinically-informed virtual mental health program to college campuses nationwide.

NEW YORK, June 9, 2022 — Mantra Health, the preeminent digital mental health clinic focused on young adults, today announced several new additions to its leadership team, adding Yiwen Looi as VP of Marketing, Hunter Davis as VP of Engineering, Allie Schwartz as VP of People, Alex Xu as VP of Virtual Care Operations, and promoting Kelly Carleton to VP of Program Success. Collectively, they bring several decades of collective experience in digital health and education technology, and will augment Mantra Health’s brand awareness and fortify its relationships with schools and mental health professionals.

This all-star leadership team joins Mantra Health during a moment of significant development. Mantra Health’s growth has skyrocketed since its debut in 2020, and its high-quality virtual counseling is now available to over 500,000 students across 52 colleges and universities ranging from Ivy League institutions to community colleges. 

As a result of college counseling centers adopting Mantra’s evidence-based, collaborative approach to support students with increased access to care, students have achieved positive clinical and academic outcomes. In fact, in a recent quarterly patient NPS survey, 81% of students stated that Mantra made it easy for them to manage their mental health, 68% of students attribute Mantra Health’s services to improved academic results, and ultimately 70% of participants credit the services to helping them stay in school. 

“It’s a great privilege to be part of an organization that is committed to not only improving the mental health of 20 million young adults attending postsecondary schools but also has a deep focus on the mental health wellbeing of its own workforce,” said Allie Schwartz, VP of People at Mantra Health. “Mantra practices what they preach, and I’m happy to be spearheading the cultivation of human connection and well-being with all employees in-person and remote.”

All of Mantra Health’s new Vice Presidents bring invaluable experience from the nation's leading digital health, digital wellness, and edtech companies. At Mantra, they will be responsible for many aspects of how higher education institutions, counselors, and students experience Mantra’s clinical excellence and white-glove patient services:

VP of Marketing, Yiwen Looi and VP of Program Success, Kelly Carleton are leading Mantra's go-to-market functions. They will be focused on driving greater awareness of Mantra Health’s mission and services, and ensuring that each of Mantra’s institutional partners receives a high quality of patient service and clinical care. Yiwen brings almost 13 years of marketing leadership experience from the edtech ecosystem. Prior to joining Mantra, Yiwen was the VP of Marketing at Noodle, the nation’s fastest-growing online education network. Kelly was promoted from within Mantra Health and has been instrumental to Mantra’s success thus far. Prior to her promotion, Kelly was Mantra’s Clinical Operations Director, running everything from care navigation to provider recruiting and university partner management. Before joining Mantra, Kelly was the Project Manager of the Behavioral Health Integration Program at Montefiore Medical Center.


As VP of Engineering, Hunter Davis will evolve and fortify Mantra’s engineering stack and scale the engineering team as the company accelerates its technology investment. Hunter’s work will ultimately facilitate collaboration with Mantra’s school partners and deliver quality mental health care to students at every stage of their care journey. Hunter brings over 18 years of engineering leadership experience. Before joining Mantra Health, Hunter was the Director of Engineering of RealSelf, the medical aesthetics industry digital marketplace.


As VP of Virtual Care Operations, Alex Xu will build and retain a nationwide network of providers specializing in young adult mental health care, while creating the best end to end patient experience with care navigation. Prior to Mantra Health, Alex was the VP of Network Operations at NOOCD, the #1 telehealth provider of OCD treatment. Before NOCD, Alex was at Lyra Health, the leading workforce mental health solutions provider for employers. Alex also had operations leadership roles at Uber and ofo, an international bike-share platform.


As VP of People, Allie Schwartz will build Mantra Health as the premier place to work in the mental health industry. She’ll also be responsible for creating connections within the company’s hybrid remote workplace as it continues to scale this year. Allie brings over 15 years of human resources leadership; most recently she was the VP of People at Tempest, the digital alcohol recovery program.

“We’re thrilled to have such a high caliber of professionals joining the Mantra team and helping to strengthen our go-to-market strategy and enhance the experience for our university partners and patients,” said Ed Gaussen, CEO and co-founder, Mantra Health. “Their combined experience and deep understanding of the latest innovations in education, technology and healthcare is essential to Mantra’s rapid expansion and to ensure Mantra’s services are available to all colleges and universities as we continue to combat the campus mental health crisis.”

In January, Mantra Health closed a Series A fundraising round. Among other goals, the capital injection was meant to enable Mantra to quadruple its headcount over the next year across all aspects of the business from product development to go-to-market and clinical operations. 

Mantra Health is a digital mental health clinic on a mission to improve access to evidence-based mental healthcare for young adults. Through augmenting high-quality clinical services with software and design, we're on a mission to improve the mental health of over 20 million university and college students through partnerships with higher education institutions and health insurance plans. As of Spring 2022, Mantra’s program has been deployed across 52 campuses with over 500,000 students including Penn State, MIT, Cornell, and Miami Dade College.

Press Release: Mantra Health Expands Leadership Team With Five New Vice Presidents

NEW YORK, August 24, 2022 - Mantra Health, the preeminent digital mental health clinic focused on young adults, announced today that Alecia Sundsmo, PsyD, has joined the company as Executive Director of Therapy. The former Director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Cornell University, Dr. Sundsmo brings extensive collegiate and clinical expertise to Mantra at a time of increasing demand for mental health services in higher education. 

“The outstanding team at Mantra was an invaluable partner to me during my time at Cornell University,” said Dr. Sundsmo. “Having access to experienced professionals who were able to assist me in providing quality care to our students was critical to serving our students well.”

While at Cornell, Dr. Sundsmo collaborated with Mantra as its telehealth provider, enabling student access to a diverse pool of clinicians. Keeping the clinic fully staffed through the partnership resulted in reduced wait times for student care. Her accomplishments include improving access to services for the LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and international student communities on campus as part of an effort to ensure more significant equity and inclusion in mental health care at Cornell.

“I know from first-hand experience that campuses are facing increased demand for mental health services at a time of a national provider shortage. Mantra has proven to be a critical partner in alleviating access pressure so that students can get quality care from a diverse network of clinicians promptly. Joining the Mantra Health team is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the development of innovative mental health solutions for college students and young adults.”

“Alecia’s knowledge of and passion for student mental health care will be an incredible asset for Mantra and our partners across the country. Her experience working in different models of care at several universities of varying scale was a major factor in bringing her on board, ” said Matt Kennedy, Mantra’s Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer. “We are excited to integrate her into our team, learn from her vast experience, and empower her to lead our provider group as we scale."

Outside of her experience at Cornell, Dr. Sundsmo served as Clinical Director of Mental Health Services at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the Executive Director of the Wellness Center at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. She also led clinical services for Grinnell College in Iowa.

“My experience at Cornell showed me firsthand that providing sufficient mental health care to meet the needs of a large student body is difficult for even well-funded counseling programs on their own,” Dr. Sundsmo said. “Mantra is pioneering a model that ensures equitable access and delivery of mental health services to students of all backgrounds while integrating its services with campus professionals on the ground to ensure a seamless transition in times of crisis. Mantra's work is critical to the future of student safety, well-being, and success.”

Mantra Health is a digital mental health clinic on a mission to improve access to evidence-based mental healthcare for young adults. Through augmenting high-quality clinical services with software and design, we aim to improve the mental health of over 20 million university and college students through partnerships with higher education institutions and health insurance plans. The Mantra program has been deployed across 50+ campuses with over 500,000 students, including Penn State, MIT, Cornell, and Miami Dade College.

Press Release: Mantra Health Taps Former Cornell University Counseling Director as Executive Director of Therapy

NEW YORK, August 18, 2022 - Mantra Health, a pioneering digital mental health clinic for young adults, announced today that it has appointed Andrew Hermalyn as its first independent board director. Hermalyn, currently President of Partnerships with digital education leader 2U, will enable Mantra Health to better connect with key higher education leaders and understand the specialized needs universities face in delivering critical mental health care for students.

“Mantra Health has been a game changer for colleges and universities struggling to meet the growing mental health needs of their students,” Hermalyn said. “I’m excited to join the board to help Mantra lead in this critical field.”

Hermalyn has been with 2U since its inception, starting his career as the company’s first intern and being named President of Partnerships in 2017. In his current role, Hermalyn is responsible for cultivating and nurturing hundreds of university partner relationships around the world. 

“We are excited to welcome Andrew to Mantra’s board. He joins a very talented, experienced and knowledgeable team of professionals who are dedicated to pushing our platform forward and directly impacting the lives of many college students who need access to critical mental health services,” said Ed Gaussen, CEO and Co-Founder of Mantra Health. “We know the difficult challenges campus-based clinicians face day in and day out. By adding Andrew to our team, we can expand our knowledge of challenges and opportunities in higher education and devise improved solutions to help our university partners.” 

As a Board Director, Hermalyn joins sitting members Ed Gaussen, CEO and Co-Founder, Matthew Kennedy, COO and Co-Founder, Soheil Mirpour, Partner at Global Founders Capital, and Michael Mauze, Managing Partner at VMG Partners.

“Mantra is providing vital mental health services for young people whose need is greater than ever,” said Hermalyn. “Already, it has established itself as the number one mental health and wellness partner, well-positioned to serve 40 million young adults over the next decade, and I am excited to help the Mantra team achieve even greater success.”

Hermalyn graduated from Lehigh University and lives in Manhattan with his wife and two daughters.

Mantra Health is a digital mental health clinic on a mission to improve access to evidence-based mental healthcare for young adults. Through augmenting high-quality clinical services with software and design, we aim to improve the mental health of over 20 million university and college students through partnerships with higher education institutions and health insurance plans. The Mantra program has been deployed across 50+ campuses with over 500,000 students including Penn State, MIT, Cornell, and Miami Dade College.

Press Release: Mantra Names 2U’s Andrew Hermalyn as First Independent Board Director

Higher ed digital mental health provider brings on Dr. Carla Chugani, University of Pittsburgh professor of pediatrics, psychiatry, and clinical and translational science to lead the development of digital clinical content.

As former CEO of Lantern and advisor to Spring Health and Pace, Alejandro Foung will use his deep expertise in the digital behavioral health space to help shape Mantra’s clinical products.

NEW YORK, June 29, 2022 — Mantra Health, the preeminent digital mental health clinic focused on young adults, today announced Carla Chugani, PhD, LPC has joined the company as Vice President of Clinical Content and Affairs. With extensive clinical and research experience in collegiate mental health, Dr. Chugani will oversee Mantra’s digital clinical content. In addition, Mantra named digital mental health entrepreneur, Alejandro Foung, as an advisor to its clinical products.

Mantra Health is the most clinically-informed digital mental health provider serving college students through high-quality, evidence-based therapy, psychiatry, and clinical content. Prior to joining Mantra, Dr. Chugani was a full-time assistant professor of pediatrics, psychiatry, and clinical and translational science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine. Her research focuses on the intersection of mental health, emerging adulthood, and educational settings. Dr. Chugani has published more than 40 articles, reviews, editorials, and chapters and has been recognized for her community-engaged scholarship as a recipient of the University of Pittsburgh’s Senior Vice Chancellor of Engagement’s 2020 Partnerships of Distinction Award for research-community partnerships.

“I’m honored to join the outstanding team at Mantra Health in their mission to develop innovative solutions to support the mental health of college students and young adults,” said Dr. Carla Chugani, VP of Clinical Content and Affairs. “I'm excited to build on Mantra's model of collaborative and evidence-based care to provide equitable access to best-in-class digital mental health services for as many students as possible.”

Alejandro Foung is Mantra’s newest strategic advisor and will apply his expertise to help inform the company's clinical products and go-to-market strategy. Foung has advised digital behavioral health companies including Pace and Spring Health. Previously, Alejandro was co-founder and CEO of Lantern, a digital behavioral health company based on cognitive behavioral therapy which was sold in February 2019. His earlier work experiences included being a founding employee at consumer technology companies NexTag and Trulia which was later acquired by Zillow. 

“We’re ecstatic to be gaining a clinical and scientific leader of Dr. Chugani’s stature and a great mind like Foung to be advising us,” said Ed Gaussen, Co-Founder and CEO of Mantra Health. “Their vast experience in behavioral health will bring the latest research and new go-to-market strategies to Mantra’s clinical products and content. Our goal is to help all 20 million students in postsecondary schools achieve successful clinical outcomes and we know having the right team is critical in order to get there.”

Press Release: Mantra Health Adds Pitt Professor as VP of Clinical Content & Affairs and Former Lantern CEO as Advisor

Food for Thought

Articles and research from our team on the future of mental healthcare for young adults.

Press Release: Mantra Health Expands Leadership Team With Five New Vice Presidents

Press Release: Mantra Health Taps Former Cornell University Counseling Director as Executive Director of Therapy

Press Release: Mantra Names 2U’s Andrew Hermalyn as First Independent Board Director

Press Release: Mantra Health Adds Pitt Professor as VP of Clinical Content & Affairs and Former Lantern CEO as Advisor