BOSTON– Akili, Inc., a leading commercial digital medicine company, today announced the appointment of Scott Kollins, Ph.D., as chief medical officer, effective December 1, 2022. Dr. Kollins will report to Akili’s chief operating officer and join the company’s executive team.
“Dr. Kollins is one of the nation’s most respected key opinion leaders in ADHD,” said Matt Franklin, president and COO of Akili. “His ADHD expertise combined with his experience in innovative approaches to clinical evidence generation will help guide our growth and our work to advance new treatments for cognitive impairments across indications, starting with EndeavorRx® in ADHD.”
“We have treated ADHD in the U.S. in virtually the same way for more than 50 years; providers and patients need new options,” said Dr. Kollins. “Akili is in a unique position to challenge the status quo and change the treatment paradigm with unique digital medicine to improve patient care. I have seen firsthand the important role that EndeavorRx can play in the treatment of children with ADHD, and I am thrilled to work alongside the talented team at Akili to help these children and build toward the future of helping tens of millions of patients living with cognitive health issues.”
Dr. Kollins spent more than 20 years on the faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Duke University School of Medicine, where he maintains an adjunct faculty appointment. He was also the co-lead for the Digital Health Solutions Initiative at the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI). In this role, Dr. Kollins worked with more than a dozen digital health and digital therapeutic companies to develop clinical studies and provide scientific and regulatory guidance. Dr. Kollins was most recently the chief medical officer for Holmusk, the world’s leading real-world evidence company focused on behavioral health.
Dr. Kollins’ research has spanned a number of areas, including human psychopharmacology, ADHD across the lifespan, nicotine and other substance use disorders, and clinical trials. He has published nearly 200 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. Over the past 20 years, his research was supported by seven different federal agencies, including the NICHD, NIDA, NIMH, NIEHS, NINDS, FDA, and EPA. Dr. Kollins has been ranked among the Top 100 Psychiatry faculty members in the U.S. with respect to NIH funding and also served as principal investigator on more than 50 industry-funded clinical trials, including Akili’s STARS-ADHD trial published in The Lancet Digital Health. Dr. Kollins is an elected member of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence and a fellow of both the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the American Psychological Association Division 28 (Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse). He has served as a reviewer for a wide range of US-based and international granting agencies. Dr. Kollins is a former associate editor for the Journal of Attention Disorders, is the ADHD section editor for the Journal of Child Psychiatry & Psychology and has reviewed for more than 50 different peer-reviewed journals. He is also a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of North Carolina.
Dr. Kollins received his undergraduate degree in psychology from Duke University in 1992 and earned his Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Clinical Psychology from Auburn University in 1995 and 1997, respectively. He completed his clinical internship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he served as chief intern. Following internship, Kollins joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology at Western Michigan University for three years, before joining the Duke faculty in 2000.
