Jon R. Cohen, M.D.
Jon R. Cohen, M.D. is the CEO of Talkspace, a digital mental health pioneer and currently the largest in-network provider of virtual mental health therapy in the U.S., and has served as a board director since September 2022.
Dr. Cohen oversees Talkspace’s strategic direction, management, and operations, with an emphasis on scaling the company’s enterprise partnerships. Notably he led the company’s efforts to provide free therapy to NYC teen residents through the City of New York’s innovative NYC Teenspace initiative, a model since launched in other municipalities/school districts including Seattle and Baltimore County, and prioritized Medicare acceptance–all aligned to the company’s mission of providing high-quality mental health care to as many people as possible.
Dr. Cohen has more than 30 years of experience as a seasoned strategic leader and healthcare policy expert with a successful track record of growing new healthcare business ventures. Prior to Talkspace, he served as Executive Chairman and CEO of BioReference Laboratories, one of the nation’s four largest commercial laboratories, where he built and scaled Scarlet Health, the nation’s largest digital at-home blood draw solution utilized by major telehealth platforms. Dr. Cohen began his career as a vascular surgeon and served as Chief Medical Officer at Northwell Health, the largest healthcare system in New York State, and as Chief Policy Advisor to former New York Governor David A. Paterson. He completed his residency in general surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and a fellowship in vascular surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Cohen is author of the book SWAB, a behind-the-scenes account of the race to scale the country’s COVID-19 testing effort in which he documents the efforts of his team when he was CEO at BioReference Laboratories. He has previously been named as one the nation’s top 50 most powerful physician executives by Modern Healthcare and is recognized for his popular TEDMED talk, “Why Don’t Patients Act Like Consumers?”