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What if diagnosing PTSD, anxiety, and depression could be as objective as a blood test — done in 10 minutes on your phone?
That's the vision behind Sensei, a company using AI and ocular biometrics to bring measurable, objective diagnostics to mental health. In this episode, host Deborah Westphal sits down with David Zakariaie, founder and CEO of Sensei, to talk about the science of the eye, a $2M technology problem solved with a commercial camera, and why fixing mental health starts with fixing measurement.
Key Takeaways
- Mental health's biggest crisis isn't just a shortage of care — it's a measurement problem. Major depression, the most commonly diagnosed mental health condition in the U.S., is misdiagnosed approximately 65% of the time. PTSD, bipolar, and schizophrenia are misdiagnosed between 84–92% of the time.
- Sensei's diagnostic app shows patients a series of ocular stimuli for roughly 10.5 minutes, captures their eyes' responses via a standard smartphone camera, and outputs a binary diagnosis plus a severity score.
- The platform measures approximately 45 individual metrics across three categories: traditional ocular metrics (pupil size, blinks, saccades, gaze), iris dilator and sphincter dynamics (mapping sympathetic vs. parasympathetic nervous system activity), and heart rate and heart rate variability from facial video.
- Sensei is currently in Phase 3 clinical trials for a PTSD diagnostic, with an FDA submission planned for late 2025 and approval expected in 2027.
- About 16,000 people participated in pre-trial studies; the full dataset at submission is expected to reach approximately 30,000.
- The go-to-market strategy focuses on telehealth platform integration — partnering with companies like Spring Health, Talkspace, and BetterHelp to embed the diagnostic tool directly into existing care delivery workflows.
- Future expansion targets schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and ADHD, with longer-term interest in neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer's and dementia.
About David Zacharia
David Zakariaie is the founder and CEO of Sensei, a mental health diagnostics company building the first FDA-regulatory-grade platform for diagnosing and monitoring PTSD, anxiety, and depression using AI-powered ocular biometrics. His path began at 15, when he attended Google I/O, received an early pair of Google Glass, and became fascinated with the scientific potential of the human eye. He left high school after 10th grade, taught himself to code, and launched the company in 2015.
Resources & Links Mentioned
- Sensei: sensei.health (verify current URL)
- Mental Health Study (Phase 3 Trial Sign-Up): mentalhealthstudy.org
- Karen Toffler Charitable Trust: tofflertrust.org (verify current URL)
- Parea Therapeutics (digital therapeutics reference)
- The CAPS-5 (Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale)
- The PCL-5 (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5)
If You Enjoyed This Episode
Subscribe to Research Renaissance wherever you listen to podcasts. If this conversation sparked something for you, share it with someone in healthcare, mental health advocacy, or neuroscience — this is the kind of work that needs more eyeballs on it.
To learn more about the breakthroughs discussed in this episode and to support ongoing research, visit our website at tofflertrust.org.
Technical Podcast Support by Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co.
