NH Hospital's innovative approach to mental health is based on the patient's biochemical makeup and gene-environment interfaces. Photo courtesy of NH Hospital

There's no one-size-fits-all solution to medical care. NH Hospital is bringing innovative technologies and functional medicine to patients in the Houston area. Using patients' biochemical makeup, the medical provider has created a unique service for Houstonians seeking a multi-pronged approach to behavioral health and substance use disorders.

The past year has been an incubator for mental health issues. Pandemic isolation, social distancing, financial instability, racial reckonings, and a massive death toll have posed an enormous threat to the mental wellbeing of people around the world. Experts predict a long-term spike in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cases as society grapples with the tragedies of the last year, but the toll is already here.

A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study found that the percentage of adults with recent symptoms of anxiety or depression increased from 36.4 to 41.5 percent between Aug. 19, 2020, and Feb. 1, 2021.

As the world waits for a moment to exhale after a catastrophic year, NH Hospital keeps busy serving patients struggling with both behavioral health and addiction during the pandemic. Outside of depression and anxiety, the facility also treats bipolar disorder, PTSD, codependency, and postpartum depression by using a multidisciplinary approach.

NH Hospital integrates traditional medicine with functional medicine with a mission of treating the root cause of an issue and not just the symptoms. From providing an on-site chef and nutritionist to stimulating patients with calming acoustic therapy, the facility blends unique treatment modalities that address the whole body rather than an isolated issue.

"With functional medicine, we find other avenues and ways to allow [patients] to heal and to change their behavior," explains Debbie Cormier, CEO of NH Hospital.

Using genetic markers as a roadmap to health

You can build the closet of Carrie Bradshaw's dreams online, buy bespoke cologne based on your body chemistry, monogram jewelry and clothing, and even get a Renaissance-style portrait of your family pet. Tailor-made options are ubiquitous; why not customize medical care?

"For years, the traditional way, we just gave people the same amount of meds, the same diets, the same everything," and wondered why some patients responded better or quicker than others, explains Cormier. For the unlucky patients who didn't get stellar results, she says doctors may have thought "they just have to deal with it" and wait. "We don't feel that you should have to just deal with it," she continues.

When treating a patient, NH Hospital doctors consider the genetic makeup of each patient to create a custom care plan. With tests as simple as a swab of the cheek, the facility can gather biochemical markers that can share valuable medical information like risk factors for diseases.

Cormier believes NH Hospital's ability to look at a patient's genetic background and "treat you as an individual," is a key factor that sets the facility apart. The hospital also focuses on understanding how your genes interact with your environment.

Think of gene-environment interactions as nature vs. nurture, an ideology that research suggests plays significant roles in the outset of mental illness. Genetic and environmental factors interact to influence phenotype, the observable characteristics you exhibit when your genotype and environment interact.

When these factors are off-balance, it can result in undesirable results. A 2001 study of Finnish twins studied the socio-geographic impact on adolescent alcohol use in urban and rural environments. While the frequency of alcohol use was the same in both settings, the factors that led adolescents to drink were entirely different. Genetic factors played a larger role in urban areas, whereas the shared environment had a greater influence in rural settings.

By applying various modalities based on genetic information, doctors aren't going in blind and "know you from the inside out," says Cormier.

When a patient comes in struggling with something as grappling as depression or anxiety, conditions they've seen an uptick in since the beginning of the pandemic, doctors will run a genetic test as well as traditional lab work. Cormier says some potential treatment paths may include photosynthesis therapy, hydration therapy and nutrition.

Dietetics meets tech

NH Hospital helps patients get micronutrient infusions, but its nutrition program provides an integrated approach to fueling the body with the help of a staff chef.

"We only have so much energy every day, and we choose how we use the energy but by getting your diet right, it starts to heal you in all kinds of ways," says Cormier.

While the physical repercussions of a poor diet like diabetes and heart disease are widely known, you may be surprised to hear that nutrition can affect mood disorders and harm brain cells. According to Harvard Health Publishing, refined sugars can lead to brain impairment, depression and oxidative stress — the free radicals produced when the body uses oxygen, which can damage cells. By focusing on a patient's nutrition, "the person has a better chance to heal, not only from the issue that is brought to us but to overall feel good," she says.

Counseling, cryotherapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation and cocoon therapy therapies are just some of the other methods NH Hospital doctors use to treat their patients.

Cormier recalls the recovery of a patient who was experiencing depression and using a wheelchair due to pain in her knees. She gradually gained the ability to walk without pain again after a months-long treatment plan of cryotherapy and micronutrient infusions.

"She said that we really changed her life because we gave her back her life. Now she's walking a mile a day around her block and she's able to do daily moving. She said she hadn't done that in years," says Cormier.

A mission to heal

Outside of neuropsychology, NH Hospital offers medical detox with monitoring from trained professionals and therapy plans for patients coming off of alcohol, methamphetamine, heroin, opioids like fentanyl and other prescription drugs.

Since the U.S. The Department of Health and Human Services declared the opioid epidemic as a public health emergency in 2017, nearly 841,000 people have died of an opioid overdose. Like anxiety and depression, addiction is also on the rise during the pandemic. A CDC survey found that 13 percent of respondents began using drugs during the pandemic or increased their use of illicit substances.

NH Hospital doctors provide micronutrients among other aides to help "build [patients] up] before taking them off the drugs, says Cormier. "We're just trying to make sure the patient feels safe and that if we're doing all these things, we continue to move them in a positive direction instead of just letting them sweat it out," she says.

"Our leadership here is committed to doing what it takes to help people whether they have behavioral, medical, or whatever [condition] brings them through our doors so that we make them have a better life," says Cormier.

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$100M Houston VC fund launches to back technical founders

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A new venture capital fund has launched with an initial $100 million mission of supporting founders with innovative critical infrastructure solutions.

Fathom Fund, which is looking to build out a portfolio of advanced computing, material science, climate resilience, and aerospace startups, announced they've launched with an initial close of over $100 million. The fund is founded by longtime investors Managing Partners Paul Sheng and Eric Bielke.

"We believe recent technological advances have accelerated the pace of scientific discovery, increasing the pool of technology companies that can produce venture-scale returns," Sheng says in a news release.

According to the fund, it hopes to bridge the gap for early stage capital for physical innovations and "moonshot" projects.

“What’s lacking in venture is rigorous technical diligence at the early stages and a playbook to scale these innovations at the pace necessary to lead industries," Bielke adds. "With this launch, we are looking forward to supporting founders with some of the most disruptive and novel ideas.”

The founder duo will bring each of the career expertise to their future portfolio companies. Sheng spent decades at McKinsey & Co and was the firm's head of the Global Energy & Materials practice. Bielke is a former director at Temasek’s Emerging Technologies Fund.

Houston is the 4th best U.S. city for Black professionals, report finds

Black History Month

In acknowledgement of Black History Month 2024, a new report compiled by Black employees at online rental marketplace Apartment List has ranked Houston the No. 4 best U.S. city for Black professionals.

Apartment List reviewed 76 cities across four major categories to determine the rankings: community and representation; economic opportunity; housing opportunity; and business environment.

Houston earned a score of 63.01 out of a total 100 points, making it the second-highest-ranked city in Texas for Black professionals, behind San Antonio (No. 3).

The city earned top-10 rankings in three out of the four main categories:

  • No. 3 – Business environment
  • No. 4 – Community and representation
  • No. 10 – Economic opportunity
  • No. 21 – Housing opportunity

Houston is commended for its strong Black business environment and economy, but there is some room for improvement when it comes to housing. Similarly to Apartment List's 2022 report – which also placed Houston at No. 4 – a little less than half (44 percent) of all Black Houston households are spending over 30 percent of their income on housing, which has increased two percent since 2019.

Houston has a larger Black population than San Antonio, at 19 percent, but its Black population share is overall lower than other cities in the top 10.

"Furthermore, the community is well-represented in some critical occupations: 20 percent of teachers are Black, as are 21 percent of doctors," the report said. "Houston is also home to the HBCU Texas Southern University, helping a job market when the median Black income is several thousand dollars above average."

Houston also has the highest rate of Black-owned businesses in the entire state, at 18 percent.

"From the Mitochondria Gallery to Ten Skyncare and Wisdom’s Vegan Bakery, Houston has it all!" the report said.

Here's how Houston stacked up in other metrics:

  • Black homeownership: 42 percent
  • Black lawyers: 14 percent
  • Black managers: 14 percent

Elsewhere in Texas
Texas cities dominated the overall top 10. San Antonio ranked just above Houston, with Dallas (No. 6) and Austin (No. 7) not too far behind.

San Antonio came in less than 2.5 points ahead of Houston with a total score of 65.44 points. The report praised San Antonio's scores across its economic opportunity (No. 2), housing opportunity (No. 7), and community and representation (No. 10). The city ranked No. 20 for its Black business environment.

But like Houston, San Antonio also fell behind in its Black homeownership rates, according to the study.

"While the Black homeownership rate is higher than average at 44 percent, the homeownership gap (Black homeownership rate - non-Black homeownership rate) quite low at -19 percent," the report's author wrote. "Perhaps this could be explained by San Antonio’s overall homeownership rate, which is also lower than the state’s average. Additionally, the lower homeownership gap could explain the cost burden rate also being lower than average at 41 percent."

The top 10 cities for Black professionals are:

  • No. 1 – Washington, D.C.
  • No. 2 – Atlanta, Georgia
  • No. 3 – San Antonio, Texas
  • No. 4 – Houston, Texas
  • No. 5 – Palm Bay, Florida
  • No. 6 – Dallas, Texas
  • No. 7 – Austin, Texas
  • No. 8 – Colorado Springs, Colorado
  • No. 9 – Lakeland, Florida
  • No. 10 – Charlotte, North Carolina
The full report and its methodology can be found on apartmentlist.com.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Houston expert: Can Houston replicate and surpass the success of Silicon Valley?

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Anyone who knows me knows, as a Houston Startup Founder, I often muse about the still developing potential for startups in Houston, especially considering the amount of industry here, subject matter expertise, capital, and size.

For example, Houston is No. 2 in the country for Fortune 500 Companies — with 26 Bayou City companies on the list — behind only NYC, which has 47 ranked corporations, according to Fortune.

Considering layoffs, fund closings, and down rounds, things aren’t all that peachy in San Francisco for the first time in a long time, and despite being a Berkeley native, I’m rooting for Houston now that I’m a transplant.

Let’s start by looking at some stats.

While we’re not No. 1 in all areas, I believe we have the building blocks to be a major player in startups, and in tech (and not just energy and space tech). How? If the best predictor of future success is history, why not use the template of the GOAT of all startup cities: San Francisco and YCombinator. Sorry fellow founders – you’ve heard me talk about this repeatedly.

YCombinator is considered the GOAT of Startup Accelerators/Incubators based on:

  1. The Startup success rate: I’ve heard it’s as high as 75 percent (vs. the national average of 5 to 10 percent) Arc Search says 50 percent of YC Co’s fail within 12 years – not shabby.
  2. Their startup-to-unicorn ratio: 5 to 7 percent of YC startups become unicorns depending on the source — according to an Arc Search search (if you haven’t tried Arc Search do – super cool).
  3. Their network.

YC also parlayed that success into a "YC Startup School" offering:

  1. Free weekly lessons by YC partners — sometimes featuring unicorn alumni
  2. A document and video Library (YC SAFE, etc)
  3. Startup perks for students (AWS cloud credits, etc.)
  4. YC co-founder matching to help founders meet co-founders

Finally, there’s the over $80 billion in returns, according to Arc search, they’ve generated since their 2005 inception with a total of 4,000 companies in their portfolio at over $600 billion in value. So GOAT? Well just for perspective there were a jaw-dropping 18,000 startups in startup school the year I participated – so GOAT indeed.

So how do they do it? Based on anecdotal evidence, their winning formula is said to be the following well-oiled process:

  1. Bring over 282 startups (the number in last cohort) to San Francisco for 90 days to prototype, refine the product, and land on the go-to-market strategy. This includes a pre-seed YC SAFE investment of a phased $500,000 commitment for a fixed min 7 percent of equity, plus more equity at the next round’s valuation, according to YC.
  2. Over 50 percent of the latest cohort were idea stage and heavily AI focused.
  3. Traction day: inter-portfolio traction the company. YC has over 4,000 portfolio companies who can and do sign up for each other’s companies products because “they’re told to."
  4. Get beta testers and test from YC portfolio companies and YC network.
  5. If they see the traction scales to a massively scalable business, they lead the seed round and get this: schedule and attend the VC meetings with the founders.
  6. They create a "fear of missing out" mentality on Sand Hill Road as they casually mention who they’re meeting with next.
  7. They block competitors in the sector by getting the top VC’s to co-invest with then in the seed so competitors are locked out of the A list VC funding market, who then are up against the most well-funded and buzzed about players in the space.

If what I've seen is true, within a six-month period a startup idea is prototyped, tested, pivoted, launched, tractioned, seeded, and juiced for scale with people who can ‘make’ the company all in their corner, if not already on their board.

So how on earth can Houston best this?

  1. We have a massive amount of businesses — around 200,000 — and people — an estimated 7.3 million and growing.
  2. We have capital in search of an identity beyond oil.
  3. Our Fortune 500 companies that are hiring consultants for things that startups here that can do for free, quicker, and for a fraction of the extended cost.
  4. We have a growing base of tech talent for potential machine learning and artificial intelligence talent
  5. A sudden shot at the increasingly laid off big tech engineers.
  6. We have more accelerators and incubators.

What do we need to pull it off?

  1. An organized well-oiled YC-like process
  2. An inter-Houston traction process
  3. An "Adopt a Startup" program where local companies are willing to beta test and iterate with emerging startup products
  4. We have more accelerators but the cohorts are small — average five to 10 per cohort.
  5. Strategic pre-seed funding, possibly with corporate partners (who can make the company by being a client) and who de-risk the investment.
  6. Companies here to use Houston startup’s products first when they’re launched.
  7. A forum to match companies’ projects or labs groups etc., to startups who can solve them.
  8. A process in place to pull all these pieces together in an organized, structured sequence.

There is one thing missing in the list: there has to be an entity or a person who wants to make this happen. Someone who sees all the pieces, and has the desire, energy and clout to make it happen; and we all know this is the hardest part. And so for now, our hopes of besting YC may be up in the air as well.

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Jo Clark is the founder of Circle.ooo, a Houston-based tech startup that's streamlining events management.