Our Team

Our leadership team is composed of scientific and strategic professionals at the forefront of CNS research & development and commercialization, and is strengthened further by leaders in psychology, psychiatry, psychedelics, and oncology.

Management

Jan-Anders Karlsson, PhD

Interim CEO, Founder, Board Member

Jan-Anders Karlsson, PhD, has an extensive track record building and leading life sciences companies as well as discovering and developing innovative drugs. Prior to Reset Pharma, Dr. Karlsson served as the CEO of Verona Pharma, a NASDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of drugs for the treatment of respiratory diseases. Before that, he was CEO of S*BIO Pte Ltd, a biotech company discovering and developing small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer. Prior to S*BIO, he served as Executive Vice President and head of Pharma Global Research at Bayer Healthcare AG in Germany. He also held various positions in Rhone-Poulenc Rorer and Astra AB before joining Bayer. Dr. Karlsson received an MSc in Pharmacy from Uppsala University and a doctorate of Medical Science (PhD) in Clinical Experimental Pharmacology from the University of Lund.

Anne C. Andorn, MD

Chief Medical Officer

Anne C. Andorn, MD, is a Board Certified psychiatrist with additional fellowship training in clinical pharmacology and pharmacology. Dr. Andorn spent the first half of her career in academic medicine where she taught, cared for patients, and conducted neuroscience research. The second half of her career has been spent in the pharmaceutical industry with positions of increasing responsibility at companies including Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and others. In these roles, Dr. Andorn has conducted translational, early phase, and late phase drug development. In these positions she has interfaced with commercial and medical affairs colleagues and has previously served as a CMO. Dr. Andorn received her medical degree from The Ohio State University College of Medicine and completed her residency and fellowship training at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Satish Prabhu, CPA

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Prabhu, CPA, brings over 30 years of accounting, finance, cost accounting, auditing, and taxation experience to this position. He has been providing CFO and accounting services for many companies, including publicly listed companies. Between 2005 and 2008, Mr. Prabhu was a Senior Project Manager at Withum Smith+Brown, Certified Public Accountants.

Åsa Holmgren, MSc Pharm

Head of Regulatory Affairs

Ms. Holmgren trained as a pharmacist and has over 30 years of experience in Global Regulatory Affairs and Drug Development. Her prior experience spans a number of different therapeutic areas, across development phases 1–3 as well as international regulatory marketing authorizations in several CNS indications. Åsa has extensive experience working in pharmaceutical companies ranging from small to large. She was previously Executive VP, Global Head of Strategic Regulatory Affairs and Market Access at Medivir AB. Prior to Medivir AB, she held leadership positions and led regulatory strategies at Orexo AB, AstraZeneca R&D, Pharmacia & Upjohn R&D, and Roche AB. In these positions she has interfaced with all other R&D functions as well as commercial and medical affairs, and has led numerous interactions with the US FDA and other international health agencies.

Susan Learned, MD, PharmD, PhD

Head of Research & Development

Dr. Learned has over 25 years of expertise in the pharmaceutical industry spanning all phases of drug discovery and development. She is a physician of internal medicine, a pharmacist, and holds a PhD in neurobehavioral clinical pharmacology. She has managed large, global, multidisciplinary drug discovery and development organizations. Dr. Learned has also led the design of innovative clinical trials to make efficient business decisions, implemented biomarkers and translational medicine tools across therapeutic areas and guided business development strategies and operations. Her most recent roles include Senior Vice President of Global Medicines Development at Indivior; Vice President, Franchise Head, and Medicines Development Leader at Stiefel (GSK’s dermatology company), and Vice President of the Discovery Medicine Unit at GlaxoSmithKline.

Wilhelm Stahl, PhD

Head of CMC

Dr. Stahl, PhD, brings 30 years of R&D and manufacturing experience in small and large pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing companies. Up to November 2022 he served as an EVP and Chief Technology Officer of Tricida, Inc. Between 2011 to 2017, Dr. Stahl held positions as Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical Operations and Chief Technology Officer, at Relypsa, Inc. Since 2009, he has been a Managing Partner of Rondaxe Enterprises, LLC, a firm providing CMC consulting services. From 2005 to 2008, Dr. Stahl was head of the pharma custom manufacturing business of Saltigo GmbH. Before entering into manufacturing, he spent 14 years in different roles in pharmaceutical R&D at Bayer and companies that are now integrated as part of Sanofi.

Board of Directors

Philip Taub

Founder, Board Chair

Mr. Taub is Founder and Managing Partner of Evolution Venture Partners. He is also the founder and Chair of the Board of Directors of Reset Pharmaceuticals. Philip has extensive experience in investment banking, merchant banking, and the management of small and mid-sized companies. Previously, Mr. Taub was Founder and Managing Director of BlueStone Capital Partners, a global investment and merchant bank focused on small and mid-cap growth companies. He has served on numerous boards of directors and has been a guest lecturer on various topics, including technology startups and financial services, at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Taub received his BA from Northwestern University.

Jan-Anders Karlsson, PhD

Interim CEO, Founder, Board Member

Jan-Anders Karlsson, PhD, has an extensive track record building and leading life sciences companies as well as discovering and developing innovative drugs. Prior to Reset Pharma, Dr. Karlsson served as the CEO of Verona Pharma, a NASDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of drugs for the treatment of respiratory diseases. Before that, he was CEO of S*BIO Pte Ltd, a biotech company discovering and developing small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer. Prior to S*BIO, he served as Executive Vice President and head of Pharma Global Research at Bayer Healthcare AG in Germany. He also held various positions in Rhone-Poulenc Rorer and Astra AB before joining Bayer. Dr. Karlsson received an MSc in Pharmacy from Uppsala University and a doctorate of Medical Science (PhD) in Clinical Experimental Pharmacology from the University of Lund.

Lisa Deschamps

Board Member

Lisa Deschamps is a passionate leader who offers a proven track record of serving patients and exceeding expectations delivering growth for companies in which she has worked. Ms. Deschamps has spent more than 17 years at Novartis, and has held various leadership positions including SVP & Chief Business Officer of Novartis Gene Therapies. Ms. Deschamps was responsible for driving strategic planning, commercialization and business development of the extensive gene therapy portfolio within AveXis. She has played a key role in leading the exploration of inorganic growth opportunities and external partnerships. Ms. Deschamps received an MBA in General Management from the NYU Stern School of Business.

Greg Hersly

Board Member

Greg is an experienced private equity investor with more than 20 years of private equity, venture capital and real estate investment experience. He is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Blue Dream Capital and BD Investment Management, private investment firms that seek to invest in companies across various sectors, with a focus on emerging industries. He is also Principal of New Legacy Advisors, a consulting firm that provides financial and operational strategy solutions to businesses in various industries. He has a strong track record of identifying, evaluating, and executing growth equity investments and M&A transactions, as well as advising on financing, restructuring and business development initiatives. Greg has a BS in Economics from Cornell University.

Robert Velarde

Board Member

Robert is a seasoned private equity investor with over 25 years of global private equity investment experience in a broad range of industries in the US, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Robert has proven experience building and managing private markets investment platforms as a senior leader in institutional, family office and impact investment firms. Robert is also an experienced board member of numerous portfolio companies and investment committee member of several private equity funds.  Robert received his Harvard Business School, MBA and graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in Economics.

Scientific Advisory Board

Gil Block, MD, PhD

Gilbert A. Block, MD, PhD, has over 30 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience encompassing all phases of clinical development and translational medicine, focusing primarily on neurologic and neuroinflammatory diseases, rare and ultra-rare orphan disorders, psychiatric diseases, and pain. His experience covers novel, experimental small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, stem cells and gene therapy (DNA and RNA) approaches. Dr. Block was the Head of Clinical Neurology and Neuropharmacology at Merck and Co. Research Laboratories, Clinical Section Head of Global Neuroscience Development at AstraZeneca, Vice President of Clinical Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology at Cephalon, Vice President of Clinical Development at Cambridge Neurosciences, Vice President and Global Head of Neurosciences and Clinical Training Assessments at i3 Global, Chief Medical Officer of Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals, and Senior Clinical Consultant for Vtesse Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Block has been responsible for the filing of multiple INDs and has overseen successful filings and approvals of 9 NDAs and MAAs. Dr. Block received his BA, PhD and MD at Case Western Reserve University. He completed his neurology residency and fellowship in cerebrovascular disease/cerebral metabolism at New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical College in New York, New York. He was previously on the faculty of the Departments of Neurology at both Cornell University Medical College/New York Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine/Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Drexel University School of Medicine. Dr. Block is a member of the American Academy of Neurology and a founding member of the American Society of Experimental NeuroTherapeutics.

William Breitbart, MD

William Breitbart, MD, is the Jimmie C. Holland Chair in Psychiatric Oncology and Attending Psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY. He is recipient of the International Psycho-Oncology Society’s (IPOS) 2009 Sutherland Lifetime Achievement Award and 2019 Jimmie Holland Award for lifetime contributions to psychiatric oncology. Dr. Breitbart has also earned the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine’s 2011 Hackett Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Psychosocial Oncology Society’s (APOS) 2013 Distinguished Leadership Award, and the American Cancer Society’s 2017 Trish Greene Quality of Life Award. Dr. Breitbart also served as President Emeritus of IPOS. Dr. Breitbart's research efforts focus on psychiatric aspects of cancer and palliative care. His most recent research centers on Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for cancer patients, an “NCI-designated research tested intervention” for end-of-life despair. He has had continuous NIH RO1 funding of investigator-initiated research since 1989. Dr. Breitbart was the principal investigator of the Network Project, NCI R25 grant (1992-98) which trained clinicians in cancer pain management and psycho-oncology. He is currently PI of R25 CA190169, which is training a national cohort of cancer care clinicians in Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy. He has over 500 peer-reviewed publications, chapters and review papers, and 13 textbooks. Dr. Breitbart is Editor-in-Chief of Cambridge University Press’ international palliative care journal entitled, Palliative & Supportive Care.

Jim Grigsby, PhD

Jim Grigsby, PhD, has conducted cognitive neuroscience and health services research for 30 years at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD). He is a Professor in the Department of Psychology, and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Health Care Policy and Research (HCPR) in the UCD School of Medicine. He has been involved in research with MDMA for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder and the use of psilocybin for depression, and he is co-editor with Charles S. Grob, MD, of the Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens. An author of many peer-reviewed scientific papers, he also published Neurodynamics of Personality, the first comprehensive framework for understanding personality based on cognitive neuroscience and nonlinear dynamical systems theory. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense, as well as other federal, state, and private sources. Dr. Grigsby obtained a BA from the University of Kansas, an MA from the University of Regina (Saskatchewan), and a doctorate from the University of Colorado Boulder.

David Hellerstein, MD

David J. Hellerstein, MD, is a research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He specializes in research and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, particularly the medication treatment of chronic depression. His current studies include psilocybin in treatment-resistant depression and psilocybin for body dysmorphic disorder. Dr. Hellerstein is Director of the Depression Evaluation Service, which conducts studies on the medication and psychotherapy treatment of conditions including major depression, chronic depression, and bipolar disorder. He has published over 125 scientific articles and book chapters on subjects including the treatment of persistent depressive disorder. Dr. Hellerstein received his medical degree from Stanford University Medical School.

Benjamin Kelmendi, MD

Benjamin Kelmendi, MD, is an Associate Research Scientist at Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Kelmendi’s research explores the mechanisms of symptoms that characterize obsessive-compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder, with the ultimate goal of developing new understandings and better treatments. In parallel, he is interested in elucidating the neurobiological mechanisms of pharmacological interventions that produce acute clinical effects such as MDMA, psilocybin, and ketamine using various methodological tools including fMRI, MRS, EEG, genetics, and neurocognitive testing. Dr. Kelmendi received his medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine.

Strategic Advisory Board

John Andreadis

John Andreadis is Founder and Managing Partner of Evolution Venture Partners and a registered representative of Ecoban Securities Corporation. He is also Founder and Member of the Board of Directors of Reset Pharmaceuticals. He has 25 years of experience in the investment banking and asset management business. He has been instrumental in structuring over $1 billion dollar in strategic transactions and financings for domestic and international biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to Founding Evolution Venture Partners he was Founder and Managing Partner of HealthPro BioVentures which provided a vast array of advisory services including strategic partnering, M&A advisory and capital formation to the life sciences industry. John was a Founder and Managing Director of BlueStone Capital Partners and was instrumental in raising the initial capital for the firm that grew to more than 600 employees in five years. As a founding partner at BlueStone, he was a member of the Private Placement Group and had a key role in the financing and structuring of companies across multiple industry groups with a focus on high technology and healthcare. John began his career at Lehman Brothers in 1988 as a Financial Consultant. He is experienced in raising capital for and advising early stage growth companies and has been actively involved with over 100 public and private financings. He was also a successful trader in aggressive growth and biotech companies and has a comprehensive knowledge of the equity markets.

Mark Corrigan, MD

Mark Corrigan, MD, is the co-founder and CEO of Tremeau Pharmaceuticals, a company advancing novel solutions for patients with acute and chronic pain. Prior to founding Tremeau, he held several executive positions at Zalicus, Sepracor, and Pharmacia Corp. Dr. Corrigan has led discovery and development efforts of multiple novel therapeutic approaches and has raised substantial capital through public markets to fund research, development, and company operations. Dr. Corrigan has held board roles at a number of public biopharmaceutical companies including Novelion, Cubist, and Avanir Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Corrigan is board certified in Psychiatry and Neurology. He received a medical degree from the University of Virginia and received specialty training in Psychiatry at Maine Medical Center and Cornell University.

Stephen Juelsgaard, DVM, JD

Stephen Juelsgaard is the former Executive Vice President, Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer of Genentech, Inc. In these roles, Mr. Juelsgaard was responsible for Genentech’s Corporate Law, Intellectual Property, Government Affairs, Human Resources, and Healthcare Compliance groups, as well as the Business Services group. He had oversight responsibility for more than 600 employees and an annual budget of approximately $250 million. Prior to joining Genentech, Mr. Juelsgaard was an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, California. Mr. Juelsgaard currently serves on the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee (Board equivalent) of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Board of Directors of AltruBio, Inc. and Juvena Therapeutics and the Board of Trustees of the African Wildlife Foundation. Mr. Juelsgaard received Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Science degrees from Iowa State University and a law degree from Stanford Law School.

Brad Sitko

Brad Sitko is the Managing Director of Strategic Finance at RTW Investments, LP (“RTW”). Mr. Sitko is responsible for providing leadership and execution for the firm’s key initiatives across new company formation, private transactions, business and corporate development and partnering, and the venture fund. Mr. Sitko brings over 15 years of experience to RTW including corporate strategy, business development, capital raising and M&A in life sciences and digital health. He has worked as a growth stage company executive, investment banker, and strategy consultant. Before joining RTW, Mr. Sitko led DNAnexus’ finance and operations teams as the company scaled its industry leading, cloud-based genomics IT platform. Prior to DNAnexus, Mr. Sitko was a senior investment banker at MTS Health Partners executing more than 30 transactions accounting for $7B of M&A volume, capital raised, and royalties monetized. Mr. Sitko received an MBA from Columbia Business School with dual concentrations in Finance and Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Management.

Richard A. Yacenda

Richard Yacenda is the Chief Operating Officer for Bank of America for Asia Pacific and is also the bank’s Chief Executive for Hong Kong. Mr. Yacenda is responsible for the management and coordination of the bank's governance platform across the business divisions and support functions. Within his role as Chief Executive for Hong Kong, he is responsible for the bank’s business and operations in Hong Kong which is the Asia Pacific Headquarters for the bank. Prior to joining Bank of America, Mr. Yacenda served as Managing Director of Deutsche Bank in the capacity of Chief Administrative Officer of Asia Pacific. He joined Deutsche Bank from JP Morgan Chase and Co. where he held the joint roles of Chief Administrative Officer, Asia Pacific and Chief Operations Officer, North Asia. Before joining JP Morgan, he had a 21-year career at Goldman Sachs.

Reset Pharma has acquired an exclusive worldwide license from NYU Langone Health for intellectual property associated with the use of psilocybin and related psychedelics for the treatment of mental illness in patients with life-threatening diseases. 

This agreement is based on the seminal work of Stephen Ross, MD, a world leader in advancing research on psychedelic medicine and a prominent psychiatrist with psycho-oncology expertise.

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Reset Pharma is addressing demoralization syndrome in patients suffering from cancer

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