Mental Health Champions: Why & How Dr. Christopher von Jako Of BrainsWay Is Helping To Champion Mental Wellness
An Interview With Michelle Tennant Nicholson
I’m passionate about my job and sometimes have to remind myself to focus on my well-being. My five strategies include getting enough sleep, eating correctly, exercising (I like to walk and run), spending time with family and friends, and having a good work-life balance. I really cherish the time I can spend with my wife and sons as well as friends. I’m looking forward to doing more of that over the holiday season.
As a part of our series about Mental Health Champions helping to promote mental wellness, I had the pleasure to interview Dr. Christopher von Jako.
Dr. Christopher von Jako has served as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since January 2020.
Chris is a technology-driven executive with 30 years of leadership and experience in the global medical device market. He is specifically passionate about the development and commercialization of minimally invasive techniques to improve health and transform lives. During his career, Chris led organizations to improve profitability, performance, and value in early-stage, expansion, turnaround, and Fortune 500 environments with five entities resulting in a merger or acquisition.
Most recently, Chris served as CEO of Dynatronics, a publicly traded medical device company that designs, manufactures, and sells high-quality restorative products. Prior to Dynatronics, he served as President and CEO of NinePoint Medical, a privately held medical device company that designs, manufactures, and sells an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging platform for clinical use in gastroenterology. Chris served as President and CEO of NeuroTherm, a privately held, minimally invasive interventional pain management company. In 2014, he successfully executed the divesture of NeuroTherm with his team to St. Jude Medical. He has also held leadership roles with other leading medical device companies, including Integra LifeSciences, Covidien, Medtronic, and Radionics.
Chris holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Pécs Medical School (Pécs, Hungary), an MS degree in Radiological Sciences and Technology from the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Massachusetts), and a double BS degree in Physics and Mathematics from Bates College (Lewiston, Maine). Additionally, he has served on several boards throughout his career and currently serves as an independent director on the board of nView medical, Inc.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
Both my parents immigrated from Hungary in the 1950s and 1960s. My father was a head and neck surgeon, and I grew up in a city about 10 miles north of Boston. I have spent most of my life in the New England area and raised my family here.
You are currently leading an initiative that is helping to promote mental wellness. Can you tell us a bit more specifically about what you are trying to address?
My goal has always been to make a positive impact in healthcare. While many people suffer from cancer — an area I have spent 25 years focusing on — mental illness is even more prevalent. Many people walk around every day with mental health issues and mask them for fear of being stigmatized. At BrainsWay, I am in a position to potentially help tens of millions of people not only become more aware of mental health issues, but also to destigmatize mental illness and improve access to mental health treatments like Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, known as Deep TMS™. Some people have callings in life for a specific career like teaching or healing. My calling is helping people and improving health on a mass scale by delivering life changing technologies to clinicians.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
My interest in this field began watching my father, who was a surgeon and a pioneer of medical devices to improve patient outcomes. My dad invented a number of game-changing technologies including laser surgery in Boston in 1971. I saw first-hand how medical devices can give doctors more — and often better — treatment options for their patients. In college and graduate school, I focused on the sciences (including biomedical) combined with business, and I discovered a passion for minimally invasive and noninvasive medical technologies. That passion combined with my desire to make a greater impact in healthcare brought me to BrainsWay. I am following in my father’s footsteps to advance healthcare.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest them. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up, and do it? What was that final trigger?
I decided to join BrainsWay as CEO after I researched the company’s technology and saw how the Deep TMS™ technology platform is superior in its science and evidence. I have brought many other technologies to the market and helped expand their access to patients; I knew I could do that here and make a real impact in patients’ lives. BrainsWay has innovative technology, talented and passionate people, and a large underserved market. By raising awareness of our technology and how it can help people suffering from depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and smoking addiction, we can not only improve health, we also can transform — and in some cases even save — lives.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
One of our biggest milestones as a company — and for me personally — was after BrainsWay received FDA clearance for Deep TMS™ to treat OCD. While this was cause for celebration, we also knew we needed to work on insurance coverage, or we wouldn’t be able to help as many people as we wanted. In the midst of the pandemic, as we were temporarily reducing salaries and, in some cases, furloughing employees, we made insurance coverage a priority and hired a head of market access. We started a big push to meet with insurance companies and share clinical data about the effectiveness of Deep TMS for OCD. Through a lot of hard work, we started to gain coverage. Today, more than 90 million people have coverage for Deep TMS for the treatment of OCD through their health insurance plans.
I also enjoy meeting our patients because I hear their stories and see how impactful our technology is on their lives. One of our OCD patients recognized the importance of insurance coverage for Deep TMS early on and helped advocate to increase access. That patient was able to get the treatment himself, and it has made a huge difference in his life. I was thrilled when he joined one of our BrainsWay Town Hall meetings to share his story with our employees. I always say that even if I had a difficult day, I go to bed knowing that we are helping patients — and that is an amazing feeling.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
I have had a few important mentors along my career as I am always open to learning from others. However, my most influential was one of my first bosses, Eric Cosman, Ph.D. He was a visionary and a tremendous mentor. Earlier in his career he was a Professor of Physics at MIT, and then transitioned to the medical device industry when he took over his father’s neurosurgical company as President and CEO. I began working there after graduate school. He gave me every opportunity possible to learn not just about technology, but also business. He spent time educating me on how to do things the right way, to develop relationships, to be accountable, to work hard, and to focus on goals. At the time, I knew nothing about business, but within two years I was running our European division. He gave me opportunities and took a chance on me. I continued meeting with him in later years, until he passed in 2017.
According to Mental Health America’s report, over 44 million Americans have a mental health condition. Yet there’s still a stigma about mental illness. Can you share a few reasons you think this is so?
Illnesses in general are often very private and personal. This is especially true with mental illness. No one wants to be viewed as different or weak, but unfortunately that is the stigma that can come with mental illness. As people are more educated about mental illness, they start to understand that it isn’t a choice to act or feel a certain way, that people aren’t weak because they suffer from a mental health disorder. The way a person’s brain is structured affects things like depression and OCD. We are evolving as a society to better understand mental illness, but there are misperceptions to overcome both on the part of society as well as individuals.
In your experience, what should a) individuals b) society, and c) the government do to better support people suffering from mental illness?
A big step would be to focus on mental illness as a major public health issue. We saw this with AIDS in the early 90s, when the government and private companies alike launched major campaigns to educate, raise awareness, and invest in research. More recently, we saw it with the COVID-19 public health campaign to educate people on how the virus is transmitted and the benefits of vaccinations. We are seeing movement in this direction for mental health with the Mental Health Parity Act of 2007, which ended insurance discrimination against mental health and substance abuse disorders, and the introduction of 988 as a national suicide and crisis hotline. The government is often seen as a safety net, and we need a bigger net to support people struggling with mental illness and addiction. I also believe that there are lots of opportunities for companies, like BrainsWay, to be involved in this bigger support.
What are your 5 strategies you use to promote your own well-being and mental wellness? Can you please give a story or example for each?
My five strategies are simple, but I often have a hard time following them. I’m passionate about my job and sometimes have to remind myself to focus on my well-being. My five strategies include getting enough sleep, eating correctly, exercising (I like to walk and run), spending time with family and friends, and having a good work-life balance. I really cherish the time I can spend with my wife and sons as well as friends. I’m looking forward to doing more of that over the holiday season.
What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a mental health champion?
I follow several mental health and leadership podcasts, like the Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett. I also recently attended a lecture in Boston by Thomas Insel, who led the National Institute of Mental Health for over 10 years. I am looking forward to reading his book, Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health, over the holidays.
If you could tell other people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
Be kind. You have no idea what personal challenges people are going through, and random acts of kindness can make someone’s day. Life is difficult and it is much better going through life when people are kind.
How can our readers follow you online?
Christopher von Jako, PhD | LinkedIn
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
About the Interviewer: Inspired by the father of PR, Edward Bernays (who was also Sigmund Freud’s nephew), Michelle Tennant Nicholson researches marketing, mental injury, and what it takes for optimal human development. An award-winning writer and publicist, she’s seen PR transition from typewriters to Twitter. Michelle co-founded WasabiPublicity.com.
