Sergio Traversa
Chief Executive Officer
bioRelmada Therapeutics, Inc.
A new approach to treating CNS disorders
At Relmada Therapeutics, we focus on the research and development of transformative medicines for those living with central nervous system (CNS) disorders.
Our company name stems from the word "relief" and represents our goal of providing curative treatments to patients living with CNS disorders.
Our integration of scientific practices and ideals is guided by leaders with extensive CNS expertise, allowing us to establish new patterns that aim to change the standard of care for CNS treatments.
Our team
We bring decades of drug development experience and extensive CNS expertise—many of our employees have previous experience from leading biopharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Acorda, Sepracor (now Sunovion), Abbott, Alkermes, Sandoz, Novartis, Bayer, Merck, Sanofi, and Roche.
Our scientific advisory board spans world-class academic and medical institutions, such as Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cornell University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Network, and Mount Sinai Hospital.
Leadership
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About Sergio Traversa
Chief Executive Officer
Before joining Relmada, Dr. Traversa was the co-founder and CEO of Medeor Inc. a spinoff pharmaceutical company from Cornell University. Dr. Traversa has over twenty-five years of experience in the healthcare sector in the United States and Europe, ranging from management positions in the pharmaceutical industry to investing and strategic advisory roles. He has held financial analyst, portfolio management and strategic advisory positions at large U.S. investment firms specializing in healthcare, including Mehta and Isaly and Mehta partners, ING Barings, Merlin BioMed and Rx Capital.
Dr. Traversa was a founding partner of Ardana Capital, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology investment advisory firm. In Europe, he held the position of Area Manager for Southern Europe of Therakos Inc., a cancer and immunology division of Johnson & Johnson. Prior to Therakos, Dr. Traversa was at Eli Lilly, where he served as Marketing Manager of the Hospital Business Unit. He was also a member of the CNS team at Eli Lilly, where he participated in the launch of Prozac and the early development of Zyprexa and Cymbalta. Dr. Traversa started his career as a sales representative at Farmitalia Carlo Erba, the largest pharmaceutical company in Italy later sold to Pharmacia and now part of Pfizer.
Dr. Traversa holds a Laurea degree in Pharmacy from the University of Turin (Italy) and an MBA in Finance and International Business from the New York University Leonard Stern School of Business.
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About Maged Shenouda
Chief Financial Officer
Maged Shenouda previously served as CFO and Executive Vice President of Corporate Development for AzurRx BioPharma, Inc. Prior to his tenure at AzurRx, Mr. Shenouda was Senior Vice President and Head of Business Development and Licensing at Retrophin, Inc. Before this, Mr. Shenouda spent the bulk of his career on Wall Street as an equity research analyst. He held senior level positions at UBS, JP Morgan and Stifel Nicolaus, covering a broad range of small and large capitalization biotechnology companies. Mr. Shenouda started his sell-side equity research career at Citigroup and Bear Stearns where his coverage universe focused on U.S and European pharmaceutical companies. Before entering Wall Street, he was a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers Pharmaceutical Consulting practice and also spent time in pharmaceutical sales, having worked as a hospital representative and managed care specialist for Abbott Laboratories Pharmaceutical Products Division. He earned a B.S. in Pharmacy from St. John's University and is a registered pharmacist in New Jersey and California. He also received an M.B.A from Rutgers Graduate School of Management.
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About Chuck Ence
Chief Accounting and Compliance Officer
Charles Ence is currently our Chief Accounting and Compliance Officer. From August 2003 until June 2019, Mr. Ence was Chief Financial Officer/Corporate Controller of New Age Beverages Corp/Xing Beverages, LLC located in Denver, Colorado. He managed all the financial affairs of New Age and their other portfolio companies helping lead the firm into becoming one of the top 100 non-alcoholic beverage companies worldwide. He helped guide the expansion of the business to ultimately penetration of 46 states domestically and 10 countries internationally, with consistent growth and profitability throughout his tenure. Mr. Ence was also instrumental in successfully uplisting the company onto the NASDAQ capital market. Prior to New Age, Mr. Ence was a senior executive, Planning Manager and Director of Finance for Quantum Corp. Following Quantum he served as a Director of Finance and Investor Relations at On Command Corp. Mr. Ence began his career at PepsiCo. During his 12 years at PepsiCo, Mr. Ence served as a financial analyst, planning supervisor, planning and analysis manager and ultimately controller.
He received his Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Accounting from Southern Utah University in 1984, and obtained a Masters in Business Administration in Finance from Arizona State University School of Business in 1985.
About Sergio Traversa
Before joining Relmada, Dr. Traversa was the co-founder and CEO of Medeor Inc. a spinoff pharmaceutical company from Cornell University. Dr. Traversa has over twenty-five years of experience in the healthcare sector in the United States and Europe, ranging from management positions in the pharmaceutical industry to investing and strategic advisory roles. He has held financial analyst, portfolio management and strategic advisory positions at large U.S. investment firms specializing in healthcare, including Mehta and Isaly and Mehta partners, ING Barings, Merlin BioMed and Rx Capital.
Dr. Traversa was a founding partner of Ardana Capital, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology investment advisory firm. In Europe, he held the position of Area Manager for Southern Europe of Therakos Inc., a cancer and immunology division of Johnson & Johnson. Prior to Therakos, Dr. Traversa was at Eli Lilly, where he served as Marketing Manager of the Hospital Business Unit. He was also a member of the CNS team at Eli Lilly, where he participated in the launch of Prozac and the early development of Zyprexa and Cymbalta. Dr. Traversa started his career as a sales representative at Farmitalia Carlo Erba, the largest pharmaceutical company in Italy later sold to Pharmacia and now part of Pfizer.
Dr. Traversa holds a Laurea degree in Pharmacy from the University of Turin (Italy) and an MBA in Finance and International Business from the New York University Leonard Stern School of Business.
About Maged Shenouda
Maged Shenouda previously served as CFO and Executive Vice President of Corporate Development for AzurRx BioPharma, Inc. Prior to his tenure at AzurRx, Mr. Shenouda was Senior Vice President and Head of Business Development and Licensing at Retrophin, Inc. Before this, Mr. Shenouda spent the bulk of his career on Wall Street as an equity research analyst. He held senior level positions at UBS, JP Morgan and Stifel Nicolaus, covering a broad range of small and large capitalization biotechnology companies. Mr. Shenouda started his sell-side equity research career at Citigroup and Bear Stearns where his coverage universe focused on U.S and European pharmaceutical companies. Before entering Wall Street, he was a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers Pharmaceutical Consulting practice and also spent time in pharmaceutical sales, having worked as a hospital representative and managed care specialist for Abbott Laboratories Pharmaceutical Products Division. He earned a B.S. in Pharmacy from St. John's University and is a registered pharmacist in New Jersey and California. He also received an M.B.A from Rutgers Graduate School of Management.
About Chuck Ence
Charles Ence is currently our Chief Accounting and Compliance Officer. From August 2003 until June 2019, Mr. Ence was Chief Financial Officer/Corporate Controller of New Age Beverages Corp/Xing Beverages, LLC located in Denver, Colorado. He managed all the financial affairs of New Age and their other portfolio companies helping lead the firm into becoming one of the top 100 non-alcoholic beverage companies worldwide. He helped guide the expansion of the business to ultimately penetration of 46 states domestically and 10 countries internationally, with consistent growth and profitability throughout his tenure. Mr. Ence was also instrumental in successfully uplisting the company onto the NASDAQ capital market. Prior to New Age, Mr. Ence was a senior executive, Planning Manager and Director of Finance for Quantum Corp. Following Quantum he served as a Director of Finance and Investor Relations at On Command Corp. Mr. Ence began his career at PepsiCo. During his 12 years at PepsiCo, Mr. Ence served as a financial analyst, planning supervisor, planning and analysis manager and ultimately controller.
He received his Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Accounting from Southern Utah University in 1984, and obtained a Masters in Business Administration in Finance from Arizona State University School of Business in 1985.
Board of directors
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About Charles J. Casamento
Chairman of the Board
Since 2007 Mr. Casamento has been executive director and principal of The Sage Group, a health care advisory group. He was president and CEO of Osteologix from October 2004 until April 2007. Mr. Casamento was the founder of Questcor Pharmaceuticals where he was president, CEO and chairman. In 2014 Questcor was acquired by Mallinckrodt for approximately $6 Billion. At RiboGene Inc. he was president, CEO and chairman until it merged with another company to form Questcor. He was also co-founder, president and CEO of Indevus (formerly Interneuron Pharmaceuticals). Indevus was eventually acquired by Endo for approximately $800 Million. He has held senior management positions at Genzyme Corporation, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager for Biochemicals and Pharmaceuticals, American Hospital Supply, where he was Vice President of Business Development for the Critical Care Division, Johnson & Johnson, Hoffmann-LaRoche and Sandoz. During his career he has been a Director of fourteen other pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies and has been on the board of two not for profit organizations. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Fordham University and an M.B.A. from Iona University.
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About John Glasspool
Director
John Glasspool is CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Anthos Therapeutics. Mr. Glasspool is also a member of the Board of Directors of Dalcor Corporation. He was formerly the Executive Vice President, Head of Corporate Strategy and Customer Operations at Baxalta Incorporated (NYSE: BXLT), formerly Baxter BioScience (NYSE: BAX). Prior to joining Baxter in August 2012, Mr. Glasspool was Head of Region Europe and Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics (NYSE: NVS), a member of the V&D Executive Committee. Mr. Glasspool served as a board member, Vice President and President of the European Vaccine manufacturers (EVM), from 2010 until December 2012. Previously, Mr. Glasspool was Head of Global Pricing & Market Access and Head of Global Commercial Operations in Novartis Pharma, where he led the functions in embedding the needs of customers and consumers for brands at all stages of their lifecycle development, launch, and in market. Mr. Glasspool joined Novartis as Head of Marketing for Neuroscience. He was promoted to Global Head Cardiovascular & Metabolism Business Franchise in 2006, during which time he grew the franchise sales over a three-year period.
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About Paul Kelly
Director
Paul Kelly has been actively involved as an analyst, consultant and investor in the biotechnology sector for the past thirty years. He has been a Director of the Company since November, 2015. Additionally, he has been acting as a Special Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer of the Company since January 1, 2023. He began as an equity analyst at Mabon Securities in 1993, and later served in the same capacity at UBS Securities, Volpe, Brown, Whalen, ING Securities, and Merrill Lynch. Mr. Kelly was named to the inaugural Fortune Magazine All Star Analyst Team in 2000. Since 2007, Mr. Kelly has engaged in consulting for private and public biotechnology companies and for hedge funds. He currently manages his own investments and continues his industry consulting activities. Mr. Kelly holds an A.B. in biochemistry from Brown University, attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and received an M.B.A in finance from the William E. Simon School at the University of Rochester.
About Charles J. Casamento
Since 2007 Mr. Casamento has been executive director and principal of The Sage Group, a health care advisory group. He was president and CEO of Osteologix from October 2004 until April 2007. Mr. Casamento was the founder of Questcor Pharmaceuticals where he was president, CEO and chairman. In 2014 Questcor was acquired by Mallinckrodt for approximately $6 Billion. At RiboGene Inc. he was president, CEO and chairman until it merged with another company to form Questcor. He was also co-founder, president and CEO of Indevus (formerly Interneuron Pharmaceuticals). Indevus was eventually acquired by Endo for approximately $800 Million. He has held senior management positions at Genzyme Corporation, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager for Biochemicals and Pharmaceuticals, American Hospital Supply, where he was Vice President of Business Development for the Critical Care Division, Johnson & Johnson, Hoffmann-LaRoche and Sandoz. During his career he has been a Director of fourteen other pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies and has been on the board of two not for profit organizations. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Fordham University and an M.B.A. from Iona University.
About John Glasspool
John Glasspool is CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Anthos Therapeutics. Mr. Glasspool is also a member of the Board of Directors of Dalcor Corporation. He was formerly the Executive Vice President, Head of Corporate Strategy and Customer Operations at Baxalta Incorporated (NYSE: BXLT), formerly Baxter BioScience (NYSE: BAX). Prior to joining Baxter in August 2012, Mr. Glasspool was Head of Region Europe and Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics (NYSE: NVS), a member of the V&D Executive Committee. Mr. Glasspool served as a board member, Vice President and President of the European Vaccine manufacturers (EVM), from 2010 until December 2012. Previously, Mr. Glasspool was Head of Global Pricing & Market Access and Head of Global Commercial Operations in Novartis Pharma, where he led the functions in embedding the needs of customers and consumers for brands at all stages of their lifecycle development, launch, and in market. Mr. Glasspool joined Novartis as Head of Marketing for Neuroscience. He was promoted to Global Head Cardiovascular & Metabolism Business Franchise in 2006, during which time he grew the franchise sales over a three-year period.
About Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly has been actively involved as an analyst, consultant and investor in the biotechnology sector for the past thirty years. He has been a Director of the Company since November, 2015. Additionally, he has been acting as a Special Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer of the Company since January 1, 2023. He began as an equity analyst at Mabon Securities in 1993, and later served in the same capacity at UBS Securities, Volpe, Brown, Whalen, ING Securities, and Merrill Lynch. Mr. Kelly was named to the inaugural Fortune Magazine All Star Analyst Team in 2000. Since 2007, Mr. Kelly has engaged in consulting for private and public biotechnology companies and for hedge funds. He currently manages his own investments and continues his industry consulting activities. Mr. Kelly holds an A.B. in biochemistry from Brown University, attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and received an M.B.A in finance from the William E. Simon School at the University of Rochester.
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About Fabiana Fedeli
Director
Ms. Fedeli has extensive knowledge of international capital markets, sustainability, governance and corporate strategy. In her current role at M&G Investments, which Ms. Fedeli joined in 2021, she leads a team of over 100 investment professionals with assets deployed across the globe. She is responsible for teams managing assets in the UK, US, Singapore, Hong Kong and France. Prior to joining M&G Investments, Ms. Fedeli served as Global Head of Fundamental Equities, Managing Director, at Robeco Asset Management, from 2013-2021. In this role, she led Robeco’s Fundamental Equities investments, with over 70 direct and indirect reports based in Rotterdam, Zurich, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Earlier in Ms. Fedeli’s career, she held senior portfolio management and research positions at multiple leading institutional investment firms and investment banks, including Pioneer Investment Management, Occam Asset Management, Indus Capital Partners, Lehman Brothers, and ING Barings Corp.
Ms. Fedeli holds a Master of Economics from Hitosubashi University in Tokyo, Japan, and a Bachelor’s in Economics from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. She also received a Certificate in Financial Asset Management and Engineering from the University of Lausanne, Swiss France Institute, in Lausanne, Switzerland.
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About Sergio Traversa
Chief Executive Officer
Before joining Relmada, Dr. Traversa was the co-founder and CEO of Medeor Inc. a spinoff pharmaceutical company from Cornell University. Dr. Traversa has over twenty-five years of experience in the healthcare sector in the United States and Europe, ranging from management positions in the pharmaceutical industry to investing and strategic advisory roles. He has held financial analyst, portfolio management and strategic advisory positions at large U.S. investment firms specializing in healthcare, including Mehta and Isaly and Mehta partners, ING Barings, Merlin BioMed and Rx Capital.
Dr. Traversa was a founding partner of Ardana Capital, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology investment advisory firm. In Europe, he held the position of Area Manager for Southern Europe of Therakos Inc., a cancer and immunology division of Johnson & Johnson. Prior to Therakos, Dr. Traversa was at Eli Lilly, where he served as Marketing Manager of the Hospital Business Unit. He was also a member of the CNS team at Eli Lilly, where he participated in the launch of Prozac and the early development of Zyprexa and Cymbalta. Dr. Traversa started his career as a sales representative at Farmitalia Carlo Erba, the largest pharmaceutical company in Italy later sold to Pharmacia and now part of Pfizer.
Dr. Traversa holds a Laurea degree in Pharmacy from the University of Turin (Italy) and an MBA in Finance and International Business from the New York University Leonard Stern School of Business.
About Fabiana Fedeli
Ms. Fedeli has extensive knowledge of international capital markets, sustainability, governance and corporate strategy. In her current role at M&G Investments, which Ms. Fedeli joined in 2021, she leads a team of over 100 investment professionals with assets deployed across the globe. She is responsible for teams managing assets in the UK, US, Singapore, Hong Kong and France. Prior to joining M&G Investments, Ms. Fedeli served as Global Head of Fundamental Equities, Managing Director, at Robeco Asset Management, from 2013-2021. In this role, she led Robeco’s Fundamental Equities investments, with over 70 direct and indirect reports based in Rotterdam, Zurich, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Earlier in Ms. Fedeli’s career, she held senior portfolio management and research positions at multiple leading institutional investment firms and investment banks, including Pioneer Investment Management, Occam Asset Management, Indus Capital Partners, Lehman Brothers, and ING Barings Corp.
Ms. Fedeli holds a Master of Economics from Hitosubashi University in Tokyo, Japan, and a Bachelor’s in Economics from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. She also received a Certificate in Financial Asset Management and Engineering from the University of Lausanne, Swiss France Institute, in Lausanne, Switzerland.
About Sergio Traversa
Before joining Relmada, Dr. Traversa was the co-founder and CEO of Medeor Inc. a spinoff pharmaceutical company from Cornell University. Dr. Traversa has over twenty-five years of experience in the healthcare sector in the United States and Europe, ranging from management positions in the pharmaceutical industry to investing and strategic advisory roles. He has held financial analyst, portfolio management and strategic advisory positions at large U.S. investment firms specializing in healthcare, including Mehta and Isaly and Mehta partners, ING Barings, Merlin BioMed and Rx Capital.
Dr. Traversa was a founding partner of Ardana Capital, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology investment advisory firm. In Europe, he held the position of Area Manager for Southern Europe of Therakos Inc., a cancer and immunology division of Johnson & Johnson. Prior to Therakos, Dr. Traversa was at Eli Lilly, where he served as Marketing Manager of the Hospital Business Unit. He was also a member of the CNS team at Eli Lilly, where he participated in the launch of Prozac and the early development of Zyprexa and Cymbalta. Dr. Traversa started his career as a sales representative at Farmitalia Carlo Erba, the largest pharmaceutical company in Italy later sold to Pharmacia and now part of Pfizer.
Dr. Traversa holds a Laurea degree in Pharmacy from the University of Turin (Italy) and an MBA in Finance and International Business from the New York University Leonard Stern School of Business.
Scientific advisors
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About Maurizio Fava, MD
Scientific advisor
Dr. Maurizio Fava is director, Division of Clinical Research of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Research Institute, executive vice chair of the Department of Psychiatry and executive director of the Clinical Trials Network and Institute, (MGH), and associate dean for clinical and translational research and the Slater Family Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Fava is a world leader in the field of depression. He has edited eight books and authored or co-authored more than 900 original articles published in medical journals with international circulation. Dr. Fava's prominence in the field is reflected in his role as the co-principal investigator of STAR*D, the largest research study ever conducted in the area of depression, and of the RAPID Network, the NIMH-funded series of studies of novel, rapidly-acting antidepressant therapies.
Dr. Fava obtained his medical degree from the University of Padova School of Medicine and completed residency training in endocrinology at the same university. He then moved to the United States and completed residency training in psychiatry at MGH. He founded and was director of the hospital's Depression Clinical and Research Program from 1990 until 2014. In 2007, he also founded and is now the executive director of the MGH Psychiatry Clinical Trials Network and Institute, the first academic CRO specialized in the coordination of multi-center clinical trials in psychiatry.
Dr. Fava has received several awards during his career and is on the editorial board of five international medical journals. He has developed with Dr. David Schoenfeld a novel design to address the problem of excessive placebo response in drug trials and to markedly reduce sample size requirements for these trials. In 2009, Dr. Fava received the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award from Harvard Medical School, and in 2013 the John T. Potts, Jr., MD Faculty Mentoring Award from Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also the former President of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology.
Dr. Fava is the Chairman of Relmada's Scientific Advisory Board.
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About Stephen M. Stahl, MD
Scientific advisor
Dr. Stahl directs psychopharmacology services and academic programs for the five facility, 6500 patient California Department of State Hospital System where he has a leadership role in addressing violence and decriminalization of the seriously mentally ill. Dr. Stahl was formerly Executive Director of Clinical Neurosciences at the Merck Neuroscience Research Center in the UK for several years. Dr. Stahl’s major interests are dedicated to producing and disseminating educational information about diseases and their treatments in psychiatry and neurology.
Dr. Stahl currently serves as editor-in-chief of CNS Spectrums. He is also past associate editor of Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, former clinical field editor for the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology and is currently on numerous editorial boards of other leading journals including the ACNP’s journal Neuropsychopharmacology. He has conducted numerous research projects during his career awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) and by the pharmaceutical industry.
Author of over 550 articles and chapters with an H index of 62, and more than 1800 scientific presentations and abstracts, Dr. Stahl is an internationally renowned clinician, researcher and teacher in psychiatry with subspecialty expertise in psychopharmacology. Dr. Stahl has written 44 books and edited 14 others, including the best-selling and award-winning textbook, Stahl’s Essential Psychopharmacology, now entering its fifth edition, and the best-selling and award winning clinical manual, Essential Psychopharmacology Prescriber’s Guide, now in its seventh edition. Dr. Stahl has also published a novel, Shell Shock, a thriller that recounts the history of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).
Dr. Stahl received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Northwestern University in Chicago, as a member of the Honors Program in Medical Education, and his Ph.D. degree in pharmacology and physiology from the University of Chicago. Dr. Stahl has trained in three specialties: internal medicine at the University of Chicago; neurology at the University of California in San Francisco; and psychiatry at Stanford University. He is board certified in psychiatry. Dr. Stahl has held faculty positions at Stanford University, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the Institute of Psychiatry London, the Institute of Neurology London, the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and, currently at the University of California Riverside. Dr. Stahl is also an Honorary Fellow at the University of Cambridge (UK).
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About Luca Pani, MD
Scientific advisor
Dr. Pani is a Professor of Psychiatry – Clinical Track in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami, with expertise in Pharmacology and Molecular Biology. He is a Fellow of the National Research Council of Italy, and served as Director General of the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA), with CEO roles of both Regulator and Negotiator/Payer.
Dr. Pani served as the Italian Alternate Member of the Committee for Human Medicine Products (CHMP), Full Member of the Scientific Advice Working Party (SAWP), and participant of the Working Party on Central Nervous System (WPCNS). He also has been the Chair of both the European Union Management Board Telematic Committee (EUMBTC) and the EU Network Pharmacovigilance Oversight Group for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in London (UK). Since 2017, he has served as Chief Scientific Officer of EDRA-LSWR Publishing Company in Milan, Italy and Inpeco SA Total Lab Automation Company in Lugano, Switzerland and the Executive Director for Global Medical Innovation at NeuroCog in Durham, North Carolina.
Dr. Pani is the author of over 160 scientific publications, editor and author of several volumes including Sustainable Innovation: Medicines and the Challenges for the Future of our National Health Service.
About Maurizio Fava, MD
Dr. Maurizio Fava is director, Division of Clinical Research of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Research Institute, executive vice chair of the Department of Psychiatry and executive director of the Clinical Trials Network and Institute, (MGH), and associate dean for clinical and translational research and the Slater Family Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Fava is a world leader in the field of depression. He has edited eight books and authored or co-authored more than 900 original articles published in medical journals with international circulation. Dr. Fava's prominence in the field is reflected in his role as the co-principal investigator of STAR*D, the largest research study ever conducted in the area of depression, and of the RAPID Network, the NIMH-funded series of studies of novel, rapidly-acting antidepressant therapies.
Dr. Fava obtained his medical degree from the University of Padova School of Medicine and completed residency training in endocrinology at the same university. He then moved to the United States and completed residency training in psychiatry at MGH. He founded and was director of the hospital's Depression Clinical and Research Program from 1990 until 2014. In 2007, he also founded and is now the executive director of the MGH Psychiatry Clinical Trials Network and Institute, the first academic CRO specialized in the coordination of multi-center clinical trials in psychiatry.
Dr. Fava has received several awards during his career and is on the editorial board of five international medical journals. He has developed with Dr. David Schoenfeld a novel design to address the problem of excessive placebo response in drug trials and to markedly reduce sample size requirements for these trials. In 2009, Dr. Fava received the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award from Harvard Medical School, and in 2013 the John T. Potts, Jr., MD Faculty Mentoring Award from Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also the former President of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology.
Dr. Fava is the Chairman of Relmada's Scientific Advisory Board.
About Stephen M. Stahl, MD
Dr. Stahl directs psychopharmacology services and academic programs for the five facility, 6500 patient California Department of State Hospital System where he has a leadership role in addressing violence and decriminalization of the seriously mentally ill. Dr. Stahl was formerly Executive Director of Clinical Neurosciences at the Merck Neuroscience Research Center in the UK for several years. Dr. Stahl’s major interests are dedicated to producing and disseminating educational information about diseases and their treatments in psychiatry and neurology.
Dr. Stahl currently serves as editor-in-chief of CNS Spectrums. He is also past associate editor of Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, former clinical field editor for the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology and is currently on numerous editorial boards of other leading journals including the ACNP’s journal Neuropsychopharmacology. He has conducted numerous research projects during his career awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) and by the pharmaceutical industry.
Author of over 550 articles and chapters with an H index of 62, and more than 1800 scientific presentations and abstracts, Dr. Stahl is an internationally renowned clinician, researcher and teacher in psychiatry with subspecialty expertise in psychopharmacology. Dr. Stahl has written 44 books and edited 14 others, including the best-selling and award-winning textbook, Stahl’s Essential Psychopharmacology, now entering its fifth edition, and the best-selling and award winning clinical manual, Essential Psychopharmacology Prescriber’s Guide, now in its seventh edition. Dr. Stahl has also published a novel, Shell Shock, a thriller that recounts the history of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).
Dr. Stahl received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Northwestern University in Chicago, as a member of the Honors Program in Medical Education, and his Ph.D. degree in pharmacology and physiology from the University of Chicago. Dr. Stahl has trained in three specialties: internal medicine at the University of Chicago; neurology at the University of California in San Francisco; and psychiatry at Stanford University. He is board certified in psychiatry. Dr. Stahl has held faculty positions at Stanford University, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the Institute of Psychiatry London, the Institute of Neurology London, the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and, currently at the University of California Riverside. Dr. Stahl is also an Honorary Fellow at the University of Cambridge (UK).
About Luca Pani, MD
Dr. Pani is a Professor of Psychiatry – Clinical Track in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami, with expertise in Pharmacology and Molecular Biology. He is a Fellow of the National Research Council of Italy, and served as Director General of the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA), with CEO roles of both Regulator and Negotiator/Payer.
Dr. Pani served as the Italian Alternate Member of the Committee for Human Medicine Products (CHMP), Full Member of the Scientific Advice Working Party (SAWP), and participant of the Working Party on Central Nervous System (WPCNS). He also has been the Chair of both the European Union Management Board Telematic Committee (EUMBTC) and the EU Network Pharmacovigilance Oversight Group for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in London (UK). Since 2017, he has served as Chief Scientific Officer of EDRA-LSWR Publishing Company in Milan, Italy and Inpeco SA Total Lab Automation Company in Lugano, Switzerland and the Executive Director for Global Medical Innovation at NeuroCog in Durham, North Carolina.
Dr. Pani is the author of over 160 scientific publications, editor and author of several volumes including Sustainable Innovation: Medicines and the Challenges for the Future of our National Health Service.
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About Thomas Laughren, MD
Scientific advisor
Dr. Laughren is recently retired as Division Director for the Division of Psychiatry Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at FDA. Prior to coming to FDA in September, 1983, Dr. Laughren was affiliated with the VA Medical Center in Providence, RI, and was on the faculty of the Brown University Program in Medicine. As Division Director for the Division of Psychiatry Products, Dr. Laughren oversaw the review of all psychiatric drug development activities conducted under INDs and the review of all NDAs and supplements for new psychiatric drug claims. He has authored and co-authored many papers on regulatory and methodological issues pertaining to the development of psychiatric drugs, and is a frequent speaker at professional meetings on these same topics. Dr. Laughren has received numerous awards for his regulatory accomplishments. He received his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin, and he also completed residency training in psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Laughren is board certified in general psychiatry.
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About Dan Iosifescu, MD, MSc
Scientific advisor
Dr. Iosifescu is Director of Clinical Research for the Nathan Kline Institute and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. His research has led to the validation of novel treatments for patients who have severe mood and anxiety disorders, including pharmacological treatments such as ketamine and other glutamatergic drugs, and devices such as novel forms of magnetic stimulation.
After receiving his medical doctor (M.D.) degree from the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania, Dr. Iosifescu completed his internship and psychiatry residency at Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts General Hospital, and McLean Hospital). His research training included a neuroimaging fellowship in the Neuroscience Laboratory at Harvard Medical School, a psychopharmacology fellowship in the MGH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Institute, and a fellowship in the Clinical Investigator Training Program at Harvard and MIT. In parallel Dr. Iosifescu received a Master of Medical Science degree from Harvard University. Until 2010 Dr. Iosifescu was Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of Translational Neuroscience in the MGH Depression Clinical and Research Program and MGH Director of the Bipolar Trials Network. And, until March 2017, he was Associate Professor of Psychiatrry at Mount Sinai.
Dr. Iosifescu has authored more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed medical journals, 14 book chapters and more than 100 abstracts. He received a series of prestigious prizes: the NARSAD Young Investigator Award (which he received twice), the Kaplen Award and the Livingston Award from Harvard Medical School, the American Psychiatric Association Young Investigator Award, the NCDEU New Investigator Award, and a National Institute for Mental Health K23 Career Development Award. Dr. Iosifescu was also designated among the “Best Doctors in America” in all editions of “Best Doctors” since 2005.
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About Sanjay Johan Mathew, MD
Scientific advisor
Dr. Mathew is the Marjorie Bintliff Johnson and Raleigh White Johnson, Jr. Vice Chair for Research and Professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine. He is also a staff psychiatrist at the Michael E. Debakey VA Medical Center (MEDVAMC) in Houston, Texas. Dr. Mathew began his faculty career at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where he co-founded and directed the Mood & Anxiety Disorders Program. In 2010, Dr. Mathew was recruited back to his hometown of Houston to direct Baylor’s Mood & Anxiety Disorders Program. His research program focuses on developing novel therapies for patients with treatment-resistant mood and anxiety disorders and PTSD, with a particular focus on rapid-acting glutamate-modulating agents.
Dr. Mathew’s research program has been funded by NIMH, Department of Veterans Affairs, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and industry in the areas of experimental therapeutics and pathophysiology of treatment-resistant depression, suicide, and PTSD. He has authored or co-authored over 130 manuscripts and book chapters, and serves on the editorial board of several journals. In addition to his long involvement with ADAA including serving as Chair of the Program Committee (2017-2018), Dr. Mathew is a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and board member of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology. An active clinician and teacher, Dr. Mathew has been selected by his peers as a “Best Doctor” every year since 2011, and has received awards for his teaching of psychopharmacology. He graduated from Dartmouth College and Baylor College of Medicine, and trained in psychiatry at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, where he also completed a NIH-funded research fellowship in affective and anxiety disorders.
About Thomas Laughren, MD
Dr. Laughren is recently retired as Division Director for the Division of Psychiatry Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at FDA. Prior to coming to FDA in September, 1983, Dr. Laughren was affiliated with the VA Medical Center in Providence, RI, and was on the faculty of the Brown University Program in Medicine. As Division Director for the Division of Psychiatry Products, Dr. Laughren oversaw the review of all psychiatric drug development activities conducted under INDs and the review of all NDAs and supplements for new psychiatric drug claims. He has authored and co-authored many papers on regulatory and methodological issues pertaining to the development of psychiatric drugs, and is a frequent speaker at professional meetings on these same topics. Dr. Laughren has received numerous awards for his regulatory accomplishments. He received his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin, and he also completed residency training in psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Laughren is board certified in general psychiatry.
About Dan Iosifescu, MD, MSc
Dr. Iosifescu is Director of Clinical Research for the Nathan Kline Institute and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. His research has led to the validation of novel treatments for patients who have severe mood and anxiety disorders, including pharmacological treatments such as ketamine and other glutamatergic drugs, and devices such as novel forms of magnetic stimulation.
After receiving his medical doctor (M.D.) degree from the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania, Dr. Iosifescu completed his internship and psychiatry residency at Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts General Hospital, and McLean Hospital). His research training included a neuroimaging fellowship in the Neuroscience Laboratory at Harvard Medical School, a psychopharmacology fellowship in the MGH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Institute, and a fellowship in the Clinical Investigator Training Program at Harvard and MIT. In parallel Dr. Iosifescu received a Master of Medical Science degree from Harvard University. Until 2010 Dr. Iosifescu was Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of Translational Neuroscience in the MGH Depression Clinical and Research Program and MGH Director of the Bipolar Trials Network. And, until March 2017, he was Associate Professor of Psychiatrry at Mount Sinai.
Dr. Iosifescu has authored more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed medical journals, 14 book chapters and more than 100 abstracts. He received a series of prestigious prizes: the NARSAD Young Investigator Award (which he received twice), the Kaplen Award and the Livingston Award from Harvard Medical School, the American Psychiatric Association Young Investigator Award, the NCDEU New Investigator Award, and a National Institute for Mental Health K23 Career Development Award. Dr. Iosifescu was also designated among the “Best Doctors in America” in all editions of “Best Doctors” since 2005.
About Sanjay Johan Mathew, MD
Dr. Mathew is the Marjorie Bintliff Johnson and Raleigh White Johnson, Jr. Vice Chair for Research and Professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine. He is also a staff psychiatrist at the Michael E. Debakey VA Medical Center (MEDVAMC) in Houston, Texas. Dr. Mathew began his faculty career at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where he co-founded and directed the Mood & Anxiety Disorders Program. In 2010, Dr. Mathew was recruited back to his hometown of Houston to direct Baylor’s Mood & Anxiety Disorders Program. His research program focuses on developing novel therapies for patients with treatment-resistant mood and anxiety disorders and PTSD, with a particular focus on rapid-acting glutamate-modulating agents.
Dr. Mathew’s research program has been funded by NIMH, Department of Veterans Affairs, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and industry in the areas of experimental therapeutics and pathophysiology of treatment-resistant depression, suicide, and PTSD. He has authored or co-authored over 130 manuscripts and book chapters, and serves on the editorial board of several journals. In addition to his long involvement with ADAA including serving as Chair of the Program Committee (2017-2018), Dr. Mathew is a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and board member of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology. An active clinician and teacher, Dr. Mathew has been selected by his peers as a “Best Doctor” every year since 2011, and has received awards for his teaching of psychopharmacology. He graduated from Dartmouth College and Baylor College of Medicine, and trained in psychiatry at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, where he also completed a NIH-funded research fellowship in affective and anxiety disorders.
bio
About Charles Inturrisi, PhD
Scientific advisor
Charles E. Inturrisi, PhD, is professor of pharmacology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University; professor, Programs in Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University; and visiting investigator, Pain and Palliative Care Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Dr. Inturrisi's current research activities are directed toward determining the comparative effectiveness of interventions used for chronic pain management. This research prospectively and retrospectively examines the long-term outcomes of treatments for chronic cancer and noncancer pain received by patients at the four New York City hospital-based outpatient pain clinics. The effectiveness information obtained determines which patients benefit from the currently available interventions used for the management of chronic pain and the cost-effectiveness of these treatments. This approach is expected to improve pain management worldwide.
Dr. Inturrisi continues to have an interest the role of glutamate receptors in injury-induced pain opioid tolerance, dependence, and addictive behaviors. These studies are intended to discover new treatments for pain and drug addiction.
Dr. Inturrisi, who was APS president between 2008 and 2010, has received the John J. Bonica Lectureship Award (Eastern Pain Association, 1994), Excellence in Mentoring Award (Weill Cornell Medical College Postdoctoral Association, 2007), Graduate Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring of Graduate Students (Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 2008), and many other awards and honors. He has been an editorial board member for The Journal of Pain and Symptom Management since 1990.
Dr. Inturrisi is co-inventor of REL-1017, a novel NMDAR channel blocker.
bio
About Marco Pappagallo, MD
Scientific advisor
Dr. Marco Pappagallo earned his medical degree with highest honors in Rome, Italy. After his residency in neurology at SUNY, Stony Brook, and his research - clinical pain fellowship at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD, he was director of pain management at Hopkins. In 2000 he was director of Pain Medicine at HJD and in 2003 at Beth Israel Hospital in NYC. In 2006 he was full Professor of Anesthesiology and Director of Pain Medicine Research at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, NYC. From 2010 to 2011 he acted as CMO for Novapharma Therapeutics. From July 2011 - August 2017 he was medical expert-in-residence for Grunenthal-USA. Since 2015 he has been Clin Prof of Anesthesiology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY and co-director of pain at OMC/ AHS, Summit, NJ. From Jan 2018 till Aug 2020 Dr. Pappagallo served as CMO at CerSci Therap, and from Jan 2021 till Jan 2023 he was CMO at RELMADA Therap, NYC, NY.
bio
About Paolo Manfredi, MD
Scientific advisor
Dr. Paolo Manfredi is specialized in Neurology and Psychiatry, in Pain Medicine and in Hospice and Palliative Care. He has completed fellowships at MD Anderson Cancer Center and Massachusetts General Hospital, where he obtained the Golden Needle Award. He has served as the Director of Pain Management and Palliative Care Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center where he was Assistant Professor in Neurology, Anesthesia and Geriatric Medicine. For over ten years Dr. Manfredi has served as the Pain and Palliative Care Fellowship director at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Manfredi's research is focused on novel NMDAR channel blockers for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Manfredi is co-founder of Relmada and co-inventor of REL-1017, a novel NMDAR channel blocker.
About Charles Inturrisi, PhD
Charles E. Inturrisi, PhD, is professor of pharmacology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University; professor, Programs in Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University; and visiting investigator, Pain and Palliative Care Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Dr. Inturrisi's current research activities are directed toward determining the comparative effectiveness of interventions used for chronic pain management. This research prospectively and retrospectively examines the long-term outcomes of treatments for chronic cancer and noncancer pain received by patients at the four New York City hospital-based outpatient pain clinics. The effectiveness information obtained determines which patients benefit from the currently available interventions used for the management of chronic pain and the cost-effectiveness of these treatments. This approach is expected to improve pain management worldwide.
Dr. Inturrisi continues to have an interest the role of glutamate receptors in injury-induced pain opioid tolerance, dependence, and addictive behaviors. These studies are intended to discover new treatments for pain and drug addiction.
Dr. Inturrisi, who was APS president between 2008 and 2010, has received the John J. Bonica Lectureship Award (Eastern Pain Association, 1994), Excellence in Mentoring Award (Weill Cornell Medical College Postdoctoral Association, 2007), Graduate Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring of Graduate Students (Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 2008), and many other awards and honors. He has been an editorial board member for The Journal of Pain and Symptom Management since 1990.
Dr. Inturrisi is co-inventor of REL-1017, a novel NMDAR channel blocker.
About Marco Pappagallo, MD
Dr. Marco Pappagallo earned his medical degree with highest honors in Rome, Italy. After his residency in neurology at SUNY, Stony Brook, and his research - clinical pain fellowship at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD, he was director of pain management at Hopkins. In 2000 he was director of Pain Medicine at HJD and in 2003 at Beth Israel Hospital in NYC. In 2006 he was full Professor of Anesthesiology and Director of Pain Medicine Research at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, NYC. From 2010 to 2011 he acted as CMO for Novapharma Therapeutics. From July 2011 - August 2017 he was medical expert-in-residence for Grunenthal-USA. Since 2015 he has been Clin Prof of Anesthesiology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY and co-director of pain at OMC/ AHS, Summit, NJ. From Jan 2018 till Aug 2020 Dr. Pappagallo served as CMO at CerSci Therap, and from Jan 2021 till Jan 2023 he was CMO at RELMADA Therap, NYC, NY.
About Paolo Manfredi, MD
Dr. Paolo Manfredi is specialized in Neurology and Psychiatry, in Pain Medicine and in Hospice and Palliative Care. He has completed fellowships at MD Anderson Cancer Center and Massachusetts General Hospital, where he obtained the Golden Needle Award. He has served as the Director of Pain Management and Palliative Care Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center where he was Assistant Professor in Neurology, Anesthesia and Geriatric Medicine. For over ten years Dr. Manfredi has served as the Pain and Palliative Care Fellowship director at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Manfredi's research is focused on novel NMDAR channel blockers for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Manfredi is co-founder of Relmada and co-inventor of REL-1017, a novel NMDAR channel blocker.
