Bringing New Hope to Treatment-Resistant Depression

Errol De Souza, PhD, Chair

Dr. De Souza is a seasoned R&D and business leader with broad experience – from large pharma to start ups – in the discovery and development of therapeutics for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Dr. De Souza is currently the executive chairman of Bionomics Limited and a member of the board of directors of Royalty Pharma and Catalyst Biosciences. Previously, Dr. De Souza founded Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc., served as CEO of numerous publicly traded and private companies, including Biodel, Inc., Synaptic Pharmaceutical Corp., Archemix Corp. and Neuropore Therapies, Inc. In addition, he led CNS R&D at DuPont Merck and US R&D at Aventis. Dr. De Souza received a B.A. in physiology and a Ph.D. in endocrinology from the University of Toronto.

Peter Hecht, PhD

Dr. Hecht served as the co-founder and chief executive officer of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals from 1998 to 2019. Under his leadership, Ironwood grew from nine Ph.D. scientists to a commercial biotechnology company that discovered, developed and is now commercializing LINZESS^® – the branded prescription market leader in its class. Additionally, during his tenure the company pioneered new areas of science, delivered a promising development portfolio with multiple innovative drug candidates and established a valuable network of global partnerships. Through a combination of private and public equity, structured debt and partnerships, Dr. Hecht and his team raised over one billion dollars to fund these efforts. He also served on the Ironwood board from 1998 to 2019, and currently serves on the board of Kallyope Inc., a privately held biotechnology company.  Prior to founding Ironwood, Dr. Hecht was a research fellow at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Dr. Hecht earned a B.S. in mathematics and an M.S. in biology from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of California at Berkeley. 

Michael Higgins

Mr. Higgins is a serial entrepreneur who has helped launch and build numerous companies during his 30+ year career. Michael served as Voyager Therapeutics’ Interim Chief Executive Officer from June 2021 to March 2022. In this role he was able to stabilize and relaunch the company through the completion of three major business development deals, and the restructuring of the management team and research portfolio. Mr. Higgins was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Polaris Partners from 2015 to 2020 where he helped the founding team launch Camp4 Therapeutics. From 2003 through 2014 he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc., evolving the company from its early days as a venture backed start-up to a fully integrated commercial organization. Mr. Higgins has been a long-time board member and board chair at other public and private companies. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Voyager Therapeutics as well as Pulmatrix Therapeutics. He also served as Audit Committee Chair at Voyager and has extensive compensation committee and governance committee experience. His financial expertise ranges from seed stage financing to IPOs, and beyond. He earned a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Steven Hyman, MD

Dr. Hyman is a Distinguished Service Professor and the Harald McPike Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University and a Core Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he directs the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research. Dr. Hyman also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Charles A. Dana Foundation, which supports research and education in neuroscience. In the private sector, he is founder of Emugen Therapeutics, a Director of Voyager Therapeutics and Q-State Biosciences, and serves on the scientific advisory boards of Janssen Pharmaceuticals and F-Prime Capital.

From 2001 to 2011 Dr. Hyman served as Provost of Harvard University. From 1996 to 2001, he served as Director of the National Institute of Mental Health where he emphasized investment in neuroscience and emerging genetic technologies. He has served as Editor of the Annual Review of Neuroscience (2002-2016), founding President of the International Neuroethics Society (2008-2013), President of the Society for Neuroscience (2015), and President of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (2018). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Hyman received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Yale College, an M.A. from the University of Cambridge, which he attended as a Mellon fellow studying History and Philosophy of Science, and an M.D., cum laude, from Harvard Medical School.

Dina Katabi, PhD 

Dr. Katabi is the Thuan and Nicole Pham Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the director of MIT’s Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also a recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award. Her research focuses on digital health, machine learning, and wireless and mobile technologies. Several start-ups have been spun out of Dr. Katabi’s lab. She is the co-founder and president of Emerald Innovations, a health analytics company that specializes in digital health solutions for passive, contactless, in-home monitoring. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science from MIT and her B.S. from Damascus University.