Newswise — An undergraduate student, a psychiatric researcher with over 20 years’ experience and the founder of a digital arts company are working together to bring a powerful virtual-reality-based addiction therapy to a broader audience with support from Indiana University.
Izzy Branam, a junior psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington, is the CEO of Relate XR, a startup that combines psychology with VR technology to treat substance use disorders by introducing individuals in recovery to their “future selves.” The technology is based on research developed by Brandon Oberlin, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the IU School of Medicine and an assistant professor of psychology at the IU School of Science, both at IU Indianapolis.
The company’s third partner and co-founder is IU alumnus Andrew Nelson, the founder of a virtual reality development company based in Indianapolis. Nelson worked extensively with Oberlin in prototyping the technology and software development on the project.
Connecting them are the people, programs and offices that fall under the umbrella of IU Innovates, a university initiative that serves as a front door to resources that support entrepreneurship, innovation and commercialization at IU.
“When I joined the team, I had no background with topics like medical device regulation and reimbursement,” Branam said. “It was super daunting, but I loved the project, and I spent the first year paying down my ignorance debt and working to educate myself enough to have productive conversations on these topics.
“Now I’m building out our regulatory strategy, working with our regulatory guidance to ensure we’re positioned for a timely and impactful launch.”
The company is not Branam’s first experience as a CEO. As a senior in high school in Indianapolis, he was named a winner of the 2021 Innovate WithIN competition, a statewide pitch competition for high school students hosted by the STARTedUP Foundation. He ultimately secured a $1.5 million valuation for a software product to streamline recruitment processes for employers seeking top sales talent. He also previously founded a record label for teenage musicians that represented up to 100 artists at its peak.
Relate XR was founded as a collaboration between Oberlin and Nelson. The duo teamed up after Oberlin sought a partner who could turn his research on the power of “future-self avatars” in the addiction recovery process into an experience available to people in early recovery.
Through the technology, individuals in recovery experience a realistic digital representation of themselves who speaks in their own voice about having fulfilled personal goals and ambitions — such as a stable job or a family — versus another version of themselves who did not stay in recovery. The approach is based on Oberlin’s extensive research on the role of valuing the future in addiction recovery.
“There are a number of approaches that have been tried to help people value their future more than their present, but it’s difficult because some people are predisposed to favor immediate gratification — and there is some evidence that drug use itself exacerbates focus on the present,” Oberlin said. “VR offers a uniquely immersive experience, which gives it its power as a therapeutic for shifting focus onto the future.”
After developing a “minimal viable product,” Oberlin began testing the technology on local patients in collaboration with dozens of small addiction recovery centers across central Indiana. The technology is currently the subject of a clinical trial with nearly 100 enrollees.
But the two-person team lacked the time and expertise to seriously pursue turning the technology into a true product with a business plan, including FDA clearance and a strategy to obtain coverage through health care reimbursement. After an introduction facilitated by the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office, Branam was brought on board to pursue these goals as part of his educational experience at IU.
Despite their different backgrounds, Branam, Oberlin and Nelson have developed an open and easy collaboration.
“I think the diversity of this group in terms of skills, demographics and ages makes for a really strong team,” Branam said.
Most recently, all three were recognized by TechPoint MIRA Awards, with Relate XR nominated as Startup of the Year, Life Sciences Innovation of the Year and Tech Innovation of the Year. Branam was also nominated in the category of Rising Entrepreneur of the Year.
After being involved in several earlier ventures, Branam said that no other project has offered him the same sense of mission as Relate XR.
“I truly believe this technology has the opportunity to positively impact a lot of lives that desperately need support,” he said. “If we all do our jobs right, I think we’ll be able to say we’ve made a real impact on somebody’s story of success. I don’t want to build technology that shuffles information in a database; I want to use technology to help open up people’s lives to a new future of possibility.”
In addition to his role with Relate XR, Branam is a community manager at IU Innovates — an organization he credits for nurturing his success — where he leads outreach efforts to the student entrepreneurship community at IU.
“It’s going to sound cliche, but the Hoosier hospitality is incredible,” Branam said. “I would not be where I am right now without all of the people along the way who offered to make the right introductions and point me in the right direction, largely thorough the ecosystems of Indiana and IU.”