# Our Story

## Our guiding lights are multi-faceted

Just as early scientists and voyagers mapped the skies, today’s innovators are mapping the human mind through genomics. What was once novel is now known; biomarkers exist to the benefit of our collective mental health. Like a map’s legend that we first need to learn to read, they guide us toward accurate, effective diagnoses that result in earlier treatment and improved quality of life. The Polaris team is working to make these advancements universally accessible.

Much like our namesake, the North Star, has illuminated paths to liberation throughout history, Polaris is a wayfinding force in mental health, paving a new path guided by genomics. Only by shedding light and connecting mental health to its biology, can we make meaningful progress in mental health care, ushering in freedom from invisible wounds and debilitating conditions.

We now stand at the intersection of mental health and neuroscience; fields that have historically been siloed, yet thankfully today’s science affirms their intrinsically interrelated nature. Let’s chart this new course, together.

## Our Origins

In 2017, inspired by their work at the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center and the US Department of Veterans Affairs, a veteran and a scientist coalesced their visions around the urgent need for 21st-century innovation in mental healthcare. Drawing upon decades of experience in biomedical technology, public health, and molecular biology, they founded a company to take aim at the mental health crisis that was resulting in 22 veteran suicides each day. Partnering with the Illumina Accelerator and scientists from Mount Sinai and the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, they developed the first-to-market, patented genomic biomarker assay to identify PTSD risk.

## Our Roots Remain

As a Black-woman-veteran-owned business, we honor our founding mission of improving the lives of US military service members and veterans living with PTSD. However, in 2020, the Covid pandemic and subsequent years of mental health repercussions faced by so many concretely elucidated the urgency for advances in diagnostics and treatment across a range of mental health and neuropsychiatric conditions. Guided by a calling to serve, Polaris expanded its capabilities and its mission to be the wayfinding force for researchers advancing biologically-based mental health for all, for the greater good.

## Together, let's blaze the way

Transforming the mental health landscape takes a village. At Polaris, we actively welcome collaborations with researchers and leadership across pharma, academic, clinical, CRO, government, and other neuropsychiatric partners.