In the latest sign that artificial intelligence is moving from hype to impact in healthcare, HoloMD, a fast-growing startup using AI to extend psychiatric care between visits, has appointed Jim Pearson as its new Executive Chairman. The move reunites Pearson with fellow med-tech veteran Joseph (“Joe”) Mark, a director on HoloMD’s board, in what makes for their third collaboration building category-defining healthcare companies.
The pair’s previous ventures, Suros Surgical Systems and NICO Corporation, both achieved strong investor outcomes and lasting clinical influence. Their new partnership at HoloMD aims even higher: to solve one of healthcare’s toughest challenges—access to mental health care—by fusing human-supervised AI with deep clinical insight.
“Joe and I have a 20-year history of taking on hard clinical problems and turning them into scalable businesses that improve patient care,” said Pearson. “HoloMD is our most meaningful challenge yet: applying human-supervised AI to expand access, raise care quality, and support clinicians at a time when behavioral health demand vastly exceeds supply.”
Addressing the Mental Health Access Crisis
The need for scalable solutions in mental health has never been greater. Millions of patients face long waits for appointments, clinicians are stretched thin, and care often falls through the cracks between visits. HoloMD’s platform is designed to fill that void.
Built around its proprietary Dr. Holo™ virtual psychiatric assistant, the company’s system uses AI-guided conversation models trained across 190 empathy contexts to continuously engage patients—tracking mood, medication adherence, and progress between sessions. The result is a form of “always-on care” that delivers both empathy and insight, supervised at every step by licensed clinicians.
Dr. Bruce Alan Kehr, distinguished psychiatrist and HoloMD’s founder and CEO, leads the company’s mission of “ongoing, personalized support for patients and visit-ready insights for clinicians, delivered safely and at scale.” With Pearson and Mark onboard, he says, HoloMD has an “exceptional opportunity to meet soaring demand and help patients in need.”
AI With a Human Touch
While “AI in healthcare” can often sound impersonal, HoloMD’s model deliberately builds human oversight into every layer of its technology. Its remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) platform ensures clinicians remain in the loop, reviewing AI-summarized patient updates and using them to guide more focused, empathetic sessions.
For patients, that means feeling seen between visits. For providers, it means arriving at each session armed with a clear narrative of progress and challenges. And for healthcare organizations and payers, it means standardized, data-driven care that supports both better outcomes and better economics.
Mark sees this as the logical next step for behavioral health. “We’ve built companies that improved outcomes and generated compelling returns,” he said. “HoloMD applies the same disciplined playbook—clinical rigor, human oversight, and scalable technology—to behavioral health.”
A Platform Positioned to Scale
Since its founding in July 2024, HoloMD has moved quickly from concept to commercialization. The platform is fully HIPAA- and HITECH-compliant, supports Medicare RTM billing, and has multiple patents and trademarks pending. Behind the technology, though, lies a simple idea: that meaningful mental health support shouldn’t end when the session does.
As Pearson, Mark, and Kehr build out the leadership team, HoloMD’s focus remains on scaling responsibly—balancing innovation with clinical integrity. In a sector long defined by scarcity, the company aims to prove that AI-assisted care can be both safe and deeply human.
