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Andrew Nierenberg, M.D.

Principal Investigator

Dr. Andrew Nierenberg has been at the Massachusetts General Hospital since 1992, where he holds his current positions. He is also Honorary Professor in the School of Medicine, Faculty of Health at Deakin University, Geelong Australia.

Dr. Nierenberg has published over 500 papers and has been listed in The Best Doctors in America for the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders in every edition since 1994. In 2000, he was awarded the Gerald L. Klerman Young Investigator Award and in 2014 the Gerald L. Klerman Senior Investigator Award by the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance. In 2013, Dr. Nierenberg was awarded the prestigious Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Colvin Prize for outstanding achievement in mood disorders research. In 2014, he was awarded the Mentorship Award for Exceptional Mentorship in the Research Arena at MGH. In 2014, 2015, and 2016 he was listed among the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds by Thompson Reuters in recognition of ranking among the top 1% of researchers for most cited papers in psychiatry worldwide. Dr. Nierenberg’s primary interests are bipolar depression and novel treatments. He lectures extensively, teaches, supervises, and mentors junior faculty, has an active clinical practice, consults to industry, and conducts clinical trials funded by federal, foundation, industry, and philanthropic sources. He serves as a peer reviewer for over 35 psychiatric journals. Dr. Nierenberg is a member of the editorial boards of over 15 journals and is the editor of Psychiatric Annals and is a deputy editor of Depression and Anxiety.

Prof. Marion Leboyer, M.D., Ph.D

Principal Investigator (EU)

Marion Leboyer, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Paris Est Créteil (UPEC) in France. She is head of the DMU IMPACT (University-affiliated department of Psychiatry and Addictology (Hôpitaux Universitaires Mondor, Assistance-Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris). She also runs the laboratory “Translational NeuroPsychiatry” which is part of Mondor Institute for Biomedical research (IMRB, Inserm U955). Since 2007, she is the executive director of a non-profit foundation, “Fondation FondaMental” created by the French Ministry of Research. Dr. Leboyer has authored or co-authored more than 900 peer-reviewed international publications (H-index = 127) and is part of the highly cited researchers (Clarivate) since 2018. In 2022, she was ranked by Research.com best female scientist award (12 in France and 256 in the world among the Top Female Scientist). In December 2021, she received the Inserm Grand Prize.

Her research efforts contributed to a better identification of genetic and environmental risk factors associated with major psychiatric disorders towards better understanding of causal mechanisms. In particular, she has contributed to the identification of associations of genetic vulnerability factors, of immune dysfunctions in major mood and psychotic disorders, but also of environmental risk factors as well as brain imaging abnormalities. Her goal is to develop biomarkers signatures to better identify homogenous subgroups of psychiatric disorders paving the way to mechanisms-based treatments. Within the 52 French expert center networks centers created and coordinated by Fondation FondaMental, several large and deeply phenotyped cohorts of patients have been followed allowing for the construction of shared observational databases and biobanks. These networks have enabled multiple collaborations within different national and international research programs. Dr Leboyer is the principal investigator of several international and national research projects.

Rick Panicucci, Ph.D.

Chief Technology Officer

Rick is currently the SVP of CMC at BridgeBio Pharma. Prior to joining BridgeBio, Rick served as VP of Pharmaceutical Development Services at WuXi STA, where he provided scientific leadership in formulation development and GMP manufacturing. From 2004 to 2015, Rick served as Global Head of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Profiling (CPP) at Novartis. His responsibilities included all small molecule therapeutics across the Novartis portfolio. He also led and developed novel drug delivery technologies for small molecules and biologics. Rick has also led R&D groups at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Symbollon Pharmaceuticals, Biogen, and Bausch & Lomb. Rick earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Toronto and did a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Prof. Daniel C. Javitt, M.D., Ph.D.

Co-founder & Chair, Scientific Advisory Board

Professor Javitt has devoted the past 30 years to the intersection of psychiatry and brain science. He was the first to identify the role of the NMDA receptor in modulating human thought processes in psycho-affective disorders. He is the author of more than 250 scientific publications and 10 patents in the field and is one of the most-widely cited authors in neuropsychiatry. His work has merited awards from the American Psychiatric Association and other leading organizations.

Wayne Pines

Regulatory & Patient Advocacy Advisor

Mr. Pines previously served as Associate Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration.