# Yash Patel

> Yash M. Patel is the Co-Founder and CEO of Legion Health, a San Francisco-based AI-native mental health platform that delivers insurance-covered psychiatric care via telehealth. A Princeton mathematics graduate (2018) and Y Combinator alum (S21), Yash previously worked as a healthcare policy analyst at the Congressional Budget Office and as a research assistant at Harvard Medical School. Motivated in part by his experience caregiving for his father, he co-founded Legion Health in 2021 alongside Princeton classmates Arthur MacWaters and Daniel Wilson. The company has raised over $10M, and in April 2026 became the first startup to receive regulatory authorization to let AI prescribe psychiatric medications.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Legion Health
- **Organizations:** Legion Health, Y Combinator, Congressional Budget Office, Harvard Medical School
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics; Certificates in Applications of Computing, Statistics, and Machine Learning, Princeton University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Legion Health, accepted into Y Combinator Summer 2021 (YC S21), Won Audience Choice Award at the Princeton-Harvard Startup Showcase (2021), Raised over $10M in funding across multiple seed rounds from Y Combinator, Alumni Ventures, Soma Capital, and others

## Career timeline

- **2014-2018** — Studied mathematics at Princeton University; earned certificates in computing, statistics, and machine learning
- **2018-2020** — Healthcare analyst at the Congressional Budget Office, focused on Medicare and Medicaid payment policy
- **2019-2021** — Research assistant at Harvard Medical School
- **2021** — Co-founded Legion Health with Princeton classmates Arthur MacWaters and Daniel Wilson; accepted into Y Combinator Summer 2021 batch
- **2021** — Legion Health wins Audience Choice Award at the Princeton-Harvard Startup Showcase
- **2022** — Legion Health raises $2M seed round to expand access to mental health care
- **2024** — Legion Health raises $6.3M led by Y Combinator; pivots to AI-native digital psychiatry platform
- **2026-01** — Legion Health closes additional seed funding; total raised exceeds $10M
- **2026-04** — Legion Health becomes first company to receive regulatory authorization allowing AI to prescribe and renew psychiatric medications, via Utah mitigation agreement

## Achievements

- Co-founded Legion Health, accepted into Y Combinator Summer 2021 (YC S21)
- Won Audience Choice Award at the Princeton-Harvard Startup Showcase (2021)
- Raised over $10M in funding across multiple seed rounds from Y Combinator, Alumni Ventures, Soma Capital, and others
- Led Legion Health to become the first company ever to receive regulatory authorization to let AI prescribe psychiatric medications (Utah, April 2026)
- Built a platform that automates 95% of administrative work in psychiatric care
- Grew Legion Health to 27 employees operating in multiple US states

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Legion Health receives regulatory authorization in Utah to allow AI to prescribe and renew psychiatric medications - first such approval in the US
- **2026-01** — Legion Health closes latest seed funding round; investors include Alumni Ventures and others, total funding exceeds $10M
- **2024-10** — Legion Health raises $6.3M led by Y Combinator, pivots to fully AI-native digital psychiatry platform

## Links

- Website: https://legionhealth.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yashmpatel1/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/YashMPatel12
- GitHub: https://github.com/yashpatel5400

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/yash-patel
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-13