The Recognify Team
Matt Pando,
Founder, CEO/President
Matt Pando has over 20 years of experience in private and public biotech companies. Dr. Pando previously held titles of Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Therapeutics, and was a member of the Executive Committee and Board at his former companies. In these roles, he contributed to the discovery and development of a variety of therapeutic and diagnostic products for CNS disease, oncology and infectious disease. Dr. Pando performed his thesis work at The Salk Institute and received his PhD in Biology from the University of California, San Diego. He also obtained a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from Colorado State University.
John Donello,
Chief Scientific Officer
John Donello has over 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience leading innovation efforts in discovery and translational clinical development in CNS, Dermatology and Ophthalmology. Dr. Donello was most recently Vice President, External Science & Innovation and Research Pharmacology at Allergan/Abbvie, and led R&D innovation efforts to in-license/ out-license opportunities and develop strategic biotech collaborations. Dr. Donello is an inventor of multiple compounds currently undergoing clinical investigation and over 130 granted US patents. Dr. Donello performed his thesis work at The Salk Institute and received his PhD in Biology from the University of California, San Diego. He also obtained a Bachelor of Science, Honors in Biology from Indiana University.
Rolando Gutierrez-Esteinou, Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Gutierrez-Esteinou has over 25 years of professional experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Prior to atai, Dr. Gutierrez-Esteinou has held various titles of Chief Medical Officer, SVP or VP in Clinical Development, Project Management, Medical Affairs and Pharmacovigilance at Novartis, J&J and BMS, and small biotech companies, as well as serving as therapeutic area head in Neuroscience at Covance, a large clinical research organization.
Dr. Gutierrez-Esteinou is a graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico School of Medicine, in Mexico City, and completed a medicine internship and a residency in Adult Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He was the recipient of a Fogerty International Fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health in the Experimental Therapeutics Branch.
Gary Walker, Founder, VP Clinical Development
Dr. Walker is a biomedical engineer and neuroscientist leading the clinical development for Recognify with over 20 years of professional experience in the development and commercialization of medical devices and pharmaceuticals. He has led clinical programs across numerous indications and at companies ranging from venture-backed startups to the Fortune 500. Dr. Walker obtained a PhD in neuroscience from University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering from UCLA.
Keeley Brooke,
Lead Clinical Operations
Keeley Brooke has over 15 years of experience in Clinical Operations in the pharma and biotech industry.
Prior to joining Recognify, Keeley was part of the Clinical Operations Leadership Team at GW Pharmaceuticals. During her time with GW, she worked on the trials that led to the FDA-approval and successful launch of the first cannabinoid-based medicine in the US. Following this, she moved to a leadership position focussing on the early neuro-psychiatry pipeline.
Keeley holds a BSc (Hons) in Animal Science from Imperial College, University of London, and an MSc in Biomedical Science from Leiden University in The Netherlands.
Thomas C. Südhof,
Founder, Chairman of SAB
Thomas Christian Südhof, ForMemRS, is a German-American biochemist known for his study of synaptic transmission. Currently, he is a professor in the School of Medicine in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and by courtesy in Neurology, and in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
He studied at the university in Aachen, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States, and at the university in Göttingen. He received his Ph.D. from Göttingen's Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in 1982.
Dr. Südhof received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2013.
Angela Macfarlane, Founder, Board Member, Business Advisor
Ms. Macfarlane is an inventor on 25 U.S. issued patents and received her BA in Business Administration from San Francisco State University, and her J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law. She currently serves on the board of the Fogarty Institute for Innovation and is a mentor in the Ferolyn Powell Leadership Program. She is currently CEO of Voyant Bio and Managing Partner at ForSight Labs. Previously, Ms. Macfarlane served as CEO ForSight VISION4 (Roche) and VISION5 (Allergan).
Florian Brand, Co-CEO, atai Life Sciences, Board Member
Florian is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of ATAI Life Sciences, a global biotech company builder with the vision of ultimately ending mental health disorders. Prior to joining ATAI and helping found Viridia Life Sciences, Florian was the co-founder and Managing Director of Springlane, Germany’s leading online kitchen appliance retailer. Florian’s experiences seeing his friends and loved ones failed by the mental health system inspired him to join the movement to transform the way we discover and develop novel neuropsychiatric therapeutics.
Ryan Barrett,
Lead General Counsel, atai Life Sciences, Board Member
Ryan Barrett is the General Counsel at ATAI Life Sciences. He has spent the majority of the past decade serving on the executive teams of public and private biotechnology companies, for which he has been responsible for building and leading the legal, corporate development and intellectual property functions. Ryan is an attorney admitted to the bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; he holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and a B.A. in Italian language from Trinity College (Hartford, CT), and a J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law (Cleveland, OH).
Srinivas Rao, M.D., Ph.D.,
Co-CEO, atai Life Sciences, Board Member
Srinivas Rao is Co-CEO and Co-Founder of atai Life Sciences. He spent 5 years as the company’s Chief Scientific Officer and brings over 20 years of professional experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Prior to atai, Dr. Rao has held the titles of Chief Scientific, Medical, or Executive Officer at companies ranging from venture-backed startups to vertically-integrated, publicly-traded pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Rao completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He received his Ph.D. in neurobiology from Yale Graduate School and his M.D. from Yale School of Medicine. He holds both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Yale College and Yale Graduate School, respectively.