Ali Mattu, PhD

Dr. Ali Mattu is a clinical psychologist who has spent his life focused on anxiety — struggling with it, studying it, and treating it.

For years he believed he had to feel calm before he could show up. He was wrong. The thing shrinking his world wasn't anxiety. It was avoidance. Learning to act anyway, with anxiety still in the room, became his life's work.

After a decade treating patients and teaching at Columbia University Medical Center, he now reaches over 350,000 subscribers on YouTube, helping anxious people do the things they're scared to do through his series "Everything I've Been Avoiding." In 2025, he cofounded Oriscen, where as Chief Science Officer he builds technology to scale the most powerful mental health skill there is — human connection.