#StartupsEverywhere Profile: Ellie Gordon, Founder & CEO, Behaivior
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Democratizing Addiction Recovery and Mental Health
Ellie Gordon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion for improving people’s lives through technology led her to Behaivior. Leveraging AI-based technologies, Behaivior seeks to save lives through the use of wearable technology for crisis aversion. We had the opportunity to have Ellie walk us through her story, aspirations for Behaivior, and the policy landscape she faces.
Tell us about your background. What led you to Behaivior?
As a behavioral technologist, designer, innovator, and entrepreneur for over 17 years, my work has primarily focused on improving people’s lives through technology. I’m an ardent advocate for improving lives through technology and making wellness, mental health, and addiction recovery equitably accessible. In January 2017, my team and I won a hackathon to gain entrance into the IBM Watson AI XPrize competition. The Hackathon team included a criminal defense attorney who spoke about bearing witness to multiple clients passing away from opioid-related overdoses. Listening to this account led to several realizations. At the time, wearable devices to monitor substance misuse, like alcohol use, were already on the market and being worn. Amid the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. history, with over two-thirds of preventable deaths caused by opioids, could a wearable device be developed to prevent opioid-related overdose? From there, the idea was born to develop a “guardian angel on your wrist,” a wearable device to prevent overdose among individuals with opioid use disorder. I founded Behaivior shortly after the hackathon and have been spearheading its growth ever since. I hope that by sharing my intersectional approach to solving global health challenges, I’ll inspire hope and broaden and expedite efforts like Behaivior’s to mitigate global health crises.
What is the work you all are doing at Behaivior?
Behaivior is a digital health company making mental health and addiction recovery more equitably accessible using AI, behavioral health tech, and wearables for crisis aversion & mental health support, including a return to substance use. Behaivior’s platform, Recovery, is a wearable, biomarker-tracking device platform leveraging AI for crisis aversion and positive behavior change that reduces the gaps in care when crisis events are most likely to occur and support care providers with retention and patient risk.
When Recovery’s AI-driven model predicts a craving event will occur within 4 hours, countermeasures and automatic interventions are triggered to assist, providing personalized interventions in real-time such as medication reminders, tailored coaching, and push notifications sent to the end-users chosen care providers and support network. We help people stay on track in their recovery process by providing the right intervention at the right time and helping care providers better serve their clients.
How do you navigate the mosaic of privacy laws? How does it impact your ability to grow or help more people?
Behaivior’s mission is to democratize recovery from addiction and mental health conditions, which means getting our technology into the hands of those who need it most, regardless of location. To match the urgency of the opioid epidemic, we chose a B2B, SaaS pathway to broaden access to our platform. The Behaivior team is composed of innovative experts in many fields, but we’re not lawyers, so for all matters pertaining to state laws, obligations, and restrictions, we consult with the experts to ensure compliance.
Protecting personal information and ensuring the security and privacy among end-users is paramount to us. Behaivior uses HIPAA-compliant data security protocols to maintain strict data security measures and continues to advance and refine our procedures in tandem with evolving policies and technologies. Understanding our obligations and maintaining compliance with these evolving policies is time-consuming and costly, but crucial. One downside is that it can deter entities like healthcare providers from adopting new technologies they need to augment their care.
Healthcare in AI is an area that policymakers often consider high-risk. What should policymakers know so that startups like Behaivior in the health + AI space can succeed while mitigating the risks they are concerned about?
The lives lost to the opioid and mental health epidemics in the U.S. and beyond are devastating. Unlike many epidemics in history, these deaths are preventable with the right intervention. Additionally, the cost of these crises to taxpayers is staggering. It has never been more evident that combatting these crises necessitates innovative, proactive solutions. Policymakers must balance promoting and encouraging novel solutions while codifying individual privacy and security.
On our end, we’re HIPAA-compliant and require informed consent for all user data in the Recovery application. Additionally, prioritizing gender and racial diversity in leadership and team members is essential to mitigate bias in AI. Behaivior is proudly woman-owned, and I’m grateful to oversee a thriving, diverse team reflected throughout all levels of the company.
Are there any local, state, or federal startup issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?
On behalf of Behaivior, last year, I was invited to be at the table for the signing of an executive order by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D), which created a governance framework for the ethical use of AI in Commonwealth agencies. As technologies advance, policymakers must take a proactive approach to encouraging innovation while establishing frameworks for responsible implementation to mitigate risk and maximize benefits and advantages.
We want to ensure funding and policy support are provided to startups for health and wellness solutions. Policy limitations are hindering the broader adoption of technology tools in behavioral health contexts in particular. Allocating funds to startups with innovative solutions is critical to lower the higher-than-ever overdose rates in the U.S., and some of the opioid settlement funds could be directed for this purpose. Also, insurance coverage for remote monitoring solutions across the U.S. and offering more tools to patients for chronic care management would improve accessibility and efficacy broadly.
What are your goals for Behaivior moving forward?
Our mission at Behaivior is to help individuals live better lives by providing equitably accessible mental health and addiction recovery support. While we have a plethora of goals, our primary goal at this time is to broaden and expedite deployments of our Recovery platform. With the support of others, the Behaivior team can further advance our vision of scaling our solution and positively impacting millions of lives via partner networks across academia, employers, care providers, insurers, governments, and health systems.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email advocacy@engine.is.
