Slide 1

Andrew J. Heath, MD, PhD, Chairman

Dr. Heath is a biopharmaceutical executive with in-depth knowledge of US and UK capital markets and international experience in marketing and sales, R & D, and business development. He was Chief Executive Officer of Protherics PLC from 1997 to 2008, taking the Company from 30 to 350 staff and managing its eventual acquisition by BTG for £220 million. Prior to this, Dr Heath held senior positions at Astra AB and Astra USA, including Vice President Marketing & Sales. Dr. Heath currently serves on the boards of Oxford Biomedica PLC and Novacyt SA. He obtained his PhD and trained in medicine at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He is based in London.

Daniel G. Chain, PhD

Dr. Chain is a seasoned biotechnology executive, innovator and scientist-entrepreneur who has spearheaded the development of innovative therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. For more than 20 years, he has established and managed companies in this field, including Mindset Biopharmaceuticals, Intellect Neurosciences, and CereSpir, and his patented innovations helped enable the development of monoclonal antibodies tested in late-stage clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease by global pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Chain obtained his PhD in Biochemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Israel and was a Howard Hughes postdoctoral research fellow in the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University in New York.

John S. Gogol

Mr. Gogol is an independent corporate advisor based in Gstaad, Switzerland. For more than 20 years, he has assisted individual and institutional clients with identifying business opportunities for investment, merger, and acquisition, especially within the pharmaceutical and financial sectors. He is a current Board member of Landmark Fiduciaire (Suisse) SA, and previously served as a director of Antares Pharma Inc. Throughout his career, Mr. Gogol has created, sponsored, and managed humanitarian aid and trading companies in Europe, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. He has worked with Stokors SA, an asset management firm in Geneva and for Business International (part of The Economist Group), where he was responsible for marketing and sales in Europe, Eastern Europe, and Canada.

Parag Saxena

Mr. Saxena is the Managing Partner and CEO of Vedanta Capital and New Silk Route Partners, which he co-founded in 2006. Previously, he was CEO of INVESCO Private Capital, one of the oldest and largest venture capital firms in the US. During his 23-year tenure at INVESCO, over 300 investments were made, including, Amgen, Costco, PictureTel, Polycom, Staples, and Starbucks. These investments led to the building of companies which have created over 500,000 jobs, with an aggregate market value exceeding $500 billion. Mr. Saxena personally led more than 90 investments for INVESCO Private Capital. These investments included Alkermes, Celgene, Genomic Health, Indigo, Masimo, Transgenomic, Xenon Pharmaceuticals, Amber Networks, ARM Holdings, MetroPCS, and Volterra. Mr. Saxena is a multi-year member of Forbes’ Midas list, which ranks the world’s best technology investors. He has served on committees advising the Prime Minister of India on foreign direct investments and the Planning Commission of India on venture capital. Mr. Saxena has provided recommendations on the landscape and regulatory environment for small businesses and venture capital to representatives of the US Congress. He is also a Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay’s Heritage Fund, and a Trustee of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He is on the Advisory Board of the Center for Advanced Studies on India at the University of Pennsylvania and is on the Indian Advisory Council of Brown University. Mr. Saxena received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a B.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the West Virginia College of Graduate Studies. Mr. Saxena is based in New York.

Shafique Virani, MD

Dr. Virani brings 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and was instrumental in building an industry-leading portfolio in neuroscience, ophthalmology, and rare diseases at Roche through academic collaborations, licensing and acquisitions. He joined Roche in 2004 and held various positions of increasing seniority globally within medical affairs, marketing, and business development, culminating as Global Head of Business Development, Licensing and M&A for neuroscience, ophthalmology and rare diseases. Dr. Virani recently served as CEO-in-Residence at BridgeBio Pharma and in that capacity was appointed as CEO of Navire Pharma and CoA Therapeutics, building both companies from Lead Generation to IND readiness. He trained as a neurosurgeon in Cambridge, UK and Boston. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

MICHAEL P. ROSS, PhD, CFA

Board Member

Dr Ross is Chief Investment Officer of Joseph Ventures LLC, a life science venture fund.  He has been Vice President at Bank of America and Lehman Brothers and senior advisory analyst to a top-ranked hedge fund.  Dr Ross is first to invent the reverse convertible bond and co-inventor of the soft barrier option and obtained a PhD in financial economics from UC Berkeley.

Bia Goncalves, PhD
Director of Scientific Communications

Bia Goncalves, Ph.D. is Director of Scientific Communications at TauC3 Biologics. Dr. Goncalves joined TauC3 Biologics in 2023, bringing a strong track record of research publications and communications and nearly two decades of experience leading R&D programs for CNS disorders. Dr. Goncalves has spent over a decade at the Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit at King’s College London, where she oversaw the development of small molecules for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, bringing a drug and biomarker development program to Phase 2a clinical stage and another through to IND enabling studies from which a spin-out company was formed. Dr. Goncalves most recently served as R&D leader at Pangea Botanica, developing drugs for neurological disorders. Preceding her career in drug development, Dr. Goncalves completed her PhD. in neuroscience at King’s College London where she also undertook an internship in Business Enterprises, and her MSc in Clinical Biochemistry from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

SCOTT POLLACK, PhD

Dr. Pollack is a leader in integrated drug discovery and platform development with extensive industry experience in neuroscience and neurodegeneration. Previously,  Dr. Pollack held leadership roles of increasing seniority at the Merck Sharp & Dohme Neuroscience Research Centre, Charles River, Sygnature Discovery and WaveBreak (formerly Wren) Therapeutics. Dr. Pollack received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in chemistry from Harvard University and a PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.  Dr. Pollack is currently based in the UK.  

Peter McGowan
Chief Financial Officer

Peter McGowan brings 30 years of international experience in both public and private companies including as CFO of several emerging biotechnology companies, helping them grow and optimize their performance.  Peter specializes in ensuring effective finance and administrative functions, raising venture capital and business development.  He previously held senior global finance leadership positions at Mundipharma and PPD, a global clinical contract research organization.  Peter is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

SHAFIQUE VIRANI, MD

Director

Dr. Virani was instrumental in building an industry leading portfolio in neuroscience, ophthalmology and rare diseases at Roche where he held various positions of increasing seniority globally culminating as Global Head of Business Development, Licensing and M&A for neuroscience, ophthalmology and rare diseases. Dr. Virani subsequently served as CEO-in-Residence at BridgeBio Pharma and is currently Chief Business Officer at Recursion. He trained as a neurosurgeon in Cambridge UK and Boston.

PARAG SAXENA

Director

Mr. Saxena Managing Partner and CEO of Vedanta Capital and New Silk Route Partners. Previously, he was CEO of INVESCO Private Capital where he personally led more than 90 investments including in Alkermes, Celgene and Genomic Health. Mr. Saxena has provided recommendations on the landscape and regulatory environment for small businesses and venture capital to representatives of the US Congress.

JOHN S. GOGOL

Director

For more than 20 years, Mr. Gogol has assisted individual and institutional clients with identifying business opportunities for investment, merger and acquisition, especially within the pharmaceutical and financial sectors. He is a current Board member of Landmark Fiduciaire (Suisse) SA, and previously served as a director of Antares Pharma Inc. 

Richard A. Margolin, MD

Dr. Margolin is a physician-scientist trained in psychiatry and nuclear medicine with extensive academic and pharmaceutical industry experience. He has held positions at Pfizer, CereSpir, Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy, Schering-Plough/Merck, and i3 Research.  Prior to working in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Margolin built and directed the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University and later led the University of Southern California’s Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Division. He received an AB degree from Harvard College magna cum laude and an MD degree from the University of California, Irvine. He has authored or co-authored 60 scientific publications.

DANIEL G. CHAIN, PhD

Dr. Chain is a seasoned biotechnology executive, innovator and scientist entrepreneur who has established and led several biotechnology companies focused on neurodegeneration.  He is an inventor of numerous patents and was a pioneer in AD immunotherapy research, initially focused on beta-amyloid lowering strategies.  His technology was licensed to Elan/Wyeth and Pfizer. He obtained his PhD in Biochemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Israel and was a Howard Hughes post-doctoral research fellow at the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University in New York.