In 2018, Dr. Nico Grundmann was working on a traveling Emergency Medicine assignment in rural West Virginia. Having completed residency at Brooklyn’s SUNY Downstate and traveled to ERs across the country, he was feeling increasingly frustrated by the number of people coming to all of his facilities in acute mental crisis, without lasting, effective treatment options. At the same time, he was using IV ketamine regularly as a standard anesthetic for his patients, and reading literature on its extraordinary efficacy for people with Treatment Resistant Depression.
Additional research revealed that despite the strength of evidence behind IV ketamine for depression, there were very few places people could access this treatment to obtain relief.
He called his wife back home in New York, Tiffany Franke, who was a strategy consultant for mission-driven organizations. Passionate about building enterprises to do some of the world’s most important work, Tiffany was immediately compelled by the opportunity to partner with Nico in building an organization aligned with their mutual desire to drive positive impact and lead a life of purpose.
The pair took their vision to the white board, and Ember Health was born. From day one, they made a commitment to evidence-based, patient-centered, partner-oriented care. These three pillars have served as the foundation of Ember Health’s model, and have been critical to Ember’s role in defining and expanding access to the gold standard of ketamine care for depression.
