Lucerne-based start-up Virtusan is creating a digital health platform. Virtusan helps users to improve their health and ability to cope with stress, both in daily life and in a work environment. Preventative and therapeutic solutions are used to support the mental and physical health of users through the Virtusan app, which will be available in app stores (Android and Apple) worldwide from spring 2022. The solution is available to private individuals and companies.
«Virtusan is an innovative start-up in healthcare. Mental health in particular is becoming increasingly important in light of the ongoing pandemic. Low threshold access to mental and physical healthcare is essential. With Virtusan, users can obtain science-based, technology-driven and personalised support,» says Marc Walder, CEO of Ringier.
Founded in 2020 by Dr Li Wu, Virtusan is founded on scientific knowledge combined with artificial intelligence. The start-up is supported by a Scientific Advisory Board, which comprises leading scientists from around the world, including neuroscientist and Stanford professor Dr Andrew Huberman and biologist and Harvard Medical School professor Dr David Sinclair. Sinclair, who specialises in ageing research, was named in Time’s 100 most influential people in 2014.
“There is a great deal of interest in health & well-being worldwide. Information is essential, but there is a significant difference between information and knowledge. Creating a place where people can find evidence-based knowledge and data-driven facts relating to health is vitally important. Virtusan is that place,” says Dr Li Wu.
With its solution for physical and mental health, Virtusan meets a topical demand: according to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental illness is on the rise worldwide. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected people’s mental health significantly. According to the WHO, nearly one billion people suffer from a mental illness, with depression one of the most common causes worldwide and contributing significantly to the global disease burden. Half of all mental illnesses begin by the age of 14 and most go undiagnosed and untreated.
Ringier AG, Corporate Communications
About Virtusan
Virtusan is a science-based platform that helps users to improve their health and ability to cope with stress in their daily life and in the work environment. Virtusan supports the mental and physical health of its users through preventative and therapeutic solutions. A group of neuroscientists, psychologists, data scientists and software developers from some of the best universities in the world, from Stanford to Harvard, have been working on preventative health solutions for physical and mental health since 2017. Supported by digital tools based on artificial intelligence, the health solutions are continuously adapted to the needs of the individual in compliance with data protection.