When I received a collect call from a payphone last week, the voice on the other end was almost unrecognizable. It was my brother, ushering in the next grim chapter of his life and starkly highlighting the real deficiencies of our mental health safety net.
As a therapeutics developer and physician-scientist, my professional journey is deeply intertwined with a personal story I rarely share. Today, I want to open up about this story to explain why I have dedicated my career to finding solutions for serious mental illnesses.
My older brother has schizophrenia—a diagnosis that has reshaped not only his life but also the lives of everyone around him. Growing up in Los Angeles, his existence has been confined to the walls of our childhood home, as trying to navigate life with his condition has been the only job he’s ever held. While my family has centered our lives around caring for my brother, we’ve learned through “trial by fire” that schizophrenia is a condition that the healthcare system is not currently structured to manage. The care continuum has failed him repeatedly, offering no systematic solution for those battling serious mental illnesses.
For decades, my mother has been his sole caregiver, enduring the emotional and physical toll that comes with it. After over 250 emergency department visits, countless encounters with the LAPD, and numerous failed treatment plans, we found ourselves at a desperate crossroad.
After a stint at a correctional system—a measure that only barely helped—we managed to transfer him to UCLA through a stroke of fortune, which initiated the conservatorship process. I served as his conservator, and later, the public guardian took over, providing a semblance of stability. However, a few months ago, the conservatorship expired, and he was discharged to a halfway house. Just last week, he left and joined the ranks of the psychotic displaced on the streets of Los Angeles – an inevitable outcome based on the state of the system.
I share this story because I know there are 3.2 million other American families that have similar stories. Before I was a developer of schizophrenia therapeutics, a neurologist, or a schizophrenia basic scientist, I was—and remain—a family member of someone whose life has been stripped away by this illness. This personal journey fuels my unwavering commitment to developing solutions for schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses.
We need change. We need new therapies. We need mental health parity. Society must invest in life-restoring solutions and services that address the hopelessness of individuals and families affected by mental illness. The recent FDA approval of Cobenfy from BMS and Karuna should serve as a beacon of hope for the 3.2 million families across the country.
Organizations like Click Therapeutics and Boehringer Ingelheim are also striving to bridge this gap, and systemic change requires collective effort. Let’s unite in advocating for a future where mental health is prioritized, and where no family has to navigate this journey alone. Together, we can build a system of care we are proud of.
