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Dedicated to Improving Lives Through Neurology and Neuropsychiatry

Meet our team

Leadership

Jeff Jonas

Chief Executive Officer

Albert Robichaud

President, Head of R&D

Ethan Hoffmann

Head of Nonclinical Development & Clinical Pharmacology

Paul Watson

Head of Technical Operations, CMC

Mollie Baird

Head of Clinical Development Operations

Rachel Fedyk

Executive Director, Strategic Operations

Steven Witowski

Head of Quality

Chad Beyer

Head of Research

Board of Directors

Jeff Goater

Director

Ken Horne

Director

Jeff Jonas

Director

John Josey

Director

Richard Lim

Director

Albert Robichaud

Director

Scientific Advisory Board

Alfredo Fontanini

Member
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Jeff Jonas

Chief Executive Officer

Biography

Dr. Jonas (Jeff) is a Partner at Cure Ventures and brings over two decades of experience in R&D leadership and cutting-edge CNS drug discovery and development across medicines and brands that have successfully helped millions of patients, such as Lexapro, Vyvanse, Zulresso, Zurzuvae and Namenda. Dr. Jonas’ significant company-building and advisory experience has generated considerable shareholder and stakeholder value, particularly when developing novel scientific approaches to CNS.

Prior to joining Cure, Dr. Jonas was the Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director at ABIO-X, a life science incubator for companies that are poised to bring transformative medicines and solutions to the global market. Before ABIO-X, Dr. Jonas was the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at Sage Therapeutics, where he led the development of industry-leading CNS treatments and development pipelines. Before Sage, he was President of the Regenerative Medicine Division at Shire Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for establishing the strategic direction of its marketed products and new product pipeline, including driving the achievement of R&D milestones. Early on in his career, Dr. Jonas served as Executive Vice President of ISIS Pharmaceuticals and held senior positions at Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Upjohn Laboratories.

Dr. Jonas has published more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers, chapters, abstracts, and books, and holds multiple patents. He received his B.A. from Amherst College and M.D. from Harvard Medical School, completed a residency in psychiatry at Harvard and served as Chief Resident of Psychopharmacology at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medicine School. Dr. Jonas was a member of the board for Karuna Pharmaceuticals (BMS) and currently is a member of the board for Generation Bio, and he is Chairman of the Board for Noema Therapeutics and Kenai Therapeutics.

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Albert Robichaud

Director

Biography

Dr. Robichaud (Al) is a Partner of Cure Ventures with over three decades of industry experience focused primarily on neuroscience. Prior to joining Cure, he was the founding scientist and Chief Scientific Officer at Sage Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines to treat life-threatening, rare CNS disorders. While there, Al helped launch the company into the public market in 2014 and built the entire research and development organization, culminating in the discovery and development of two commercially approved drugs, Zulresso and Zurzuvae, as well as 9 additional development candidates.

Prior to Sage, Al was the Vice President of Chemical and Pharmacokinetic Sciences at Lundbeck Research, USA, where he was responsible for the strategy and development of novel therapeutics for mood disorders, neurodegenerative disease, and psychiatric illness. Before Lundbeck Research, Al was the Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Wyeth Discovery Research where he focused on the direction of multiple key Neuroscience projects and succeeded in advancing more than 15 compounds into clinical development. Al has also held roles of varying responsibility at several big pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Al is an inventor of more than 100 granted US patents and US patent applications and has authored or co-authored more than 200 external publications and poster abstracts. He has given multiple invited lectures at universities and national symposia and has served as Section Editor for Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry, Editorial Advisor for Burger’s Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery as well as ACS journal Chemical Neuroscience. Al is a Scientific Advisory Board member to Morphic Rock Pharmaceuticals, Sage Therapeutics, as well as several venture capital initiatives.

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Richard Lim

Director

Biography

Mr. Lim (Rich) is a Managing Partner and the President of Cure Ventures. Rich’s career in the life science sector spans three decades demonstrating strategic and corporate development leadership within the biotech industry as well as investment leadership at top-performing venture capital firms. He is considered a trusted partner to visionary scientists and entrepreneurs, by being directly involved in the early capital raises of leading prominent biotech start-ups.

From 2020 to 2021, Rich served as Chief Business Officer and SVP of Corporate Development for an oncology focused biopharmaceutical company, where he led all deal-making activities including acquisitions, licensing, and partnerships. As a member of the senior executive team, Richard contributed to the company becoming one of the top 5 biopharma IPOs of 2020.

From 2008 to 2020, Rich served as a Managing Member and President of top quartile performing Omega Funds, where he sourced, conducted diligence, raised capital and served for many of Omega’s most successful portfolio companies. He served on the Board of Directors for Nuvation Bio (NASDAQ: NUVB), Gossamer Bio (NASDAQ: GOSS), and Replimune (NASDAQ: REPL) and Paratek Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PRTK).

Previously, Rich was a Managing Director of MVM Life Science Partners LLP, where he founded MVM’s US operations and sourced all US deals during his tenure. Before MVM, Rich was Vice President at Saunders Karp & Megrue, a private equity firm, where he focused on healthcare equity deals. Rich was also Engagement Manager at LEK Consulting, a strategy and mergers & acquisitions consulting firm where he advised leading biotech and pharma companies.

Mr. Lim received his A.B. from Harvard College and M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

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Ethan Hoffmann

Head of Nonclinical Development & Clinical Pharmacology

Biography

Ethan Hoffmann is a seasoned scientist with more than two decades of experience in drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics (DMPK), toxicology, and clinical pharmacology. He currently serves as Vice President of Nonclinical Development and Clinical Pharmacology at Tortugas Neuroscience. where he oversees strategy, execution, and governance across toxicology, DMPK, clinical pharmacology, and bioanalytical sciences. In this role, Ethan provides scientific and regulatory leadership, ensuring high-quality support for clinical-stage programs and regulatory submissions.

Throughout his career, Ethan has designed and executed pivotal clinical pharmacology programs, resulting in the successful approval of Zulresso and Zurzuvae, and has contributed to key regulatory filings such as NDAs, INDs, and briefing packages. He has been an active participant in U.S. FDA, EMA, and international regulatory meetings, bringing scientific rigor and clear communication to discussions on drug development strategy.

Previously, Ethan held scientific and leadership roles at GlaxoSmithKline (Sirtris Division), AstraZeneca, and Enanta Pharmaceuticals, where he established and directed DMPK teams, optimized ADME properties for multiple drug candidates, and supported a wide range of therapeutic areas including neurology, oncology, immunology, and metabolic disorders.

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Paul Watson

Head of Technical Operations, CMC

Biography

Dr. Watson (Paul) is the Head of Technical Operations with over twenty-five years of industry experience focused on research, development and commercialization activities. Prior to joining Tortugas, he was one of the founding scientists and Head of Pharmaceutical Development at Sage Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines to treat life-threatening, rare CNS disorders. While there, Paul built the pharmaceutical research and development organization, culminating in the development of two commercially approved drugs, Zulresso and Zurzuvae, as well as 9 additional development candidates.

Prior to Sage, Paul was a CMC consultant working with several small biotechnology companies. Before launching his consulting career, Paul was the Senior Director of Chemical Development at Inspire Pharmaceuticals where he focused on the development of several respiratory, ophthalmic and parenteral products for cystic fibrosis, cardiovascular disease and dry eye.

Paul has also held roles of varying responsibility in big pharma at DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

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Mollie Baird

Head of Clinical Development Operations

Biography

Mollie Baird is a senior Clinical Development Operations executive with over twenty years of experience in the biotech industry. She has a proven track record of leading global clinical operations strategy from concept to regulatory approval across diverse therapeutic areas, building and scaling high-performing organizations, and delivering multiple innovative therapies.

Prior to joining Tortugas, Mollie spent more than a decade at Sage Therapeutics, where she served as Vice President, Head of Clinical Development Operations. At Sage, she established and grew the Clinical Operations and Development function from inception to a team of more than 80, providing the operational backbone for the company’s neuroscience pipeline. Her leadership was instrumental in advancing Sage’s global clinical development portfolio, culminating in two successful NDA submissions and FDA approvals in postpartum depression: Zulresso and Zurzuvae.

Earlier, Mollie spent seven years at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in both Clinical Operations and Patient-Reported Outcomes (PRO). She led pivotal clinical trial programs in gastrointestinal disorders, including those resulting in the approval of Linzess for IBS-C and chronic constipation, while also establishing Ironwood’s PRO function to support outcomes research across the pipeline.

She began her biotech career in oncology clinical research at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, with prior roles at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston University’s Slone Epidemiology Center. Mollie holds an MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Boston University and a BS from Michigan State University.

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Rachel Fedyk

Executive Director, Strategic Operations

Biography

Rachel Fedyk is an accomplished operations leader with extensive experience in R&D strategy, program management, and organizational excellence. As Executive Director of Strategic Operations at Tortugas Neuroscience, she drives operational strategy, execution, and alliance management across discovery and development programs. Rachel partners closely with R&D and executive leadership to implement governance structures, optimize resources, and enhance data-driven decision-making that supports long-term growth.

Before joining Tortugas, Rachel spent more than eight years at Sage Therapeutics, where she rose to Executive Director of R&D Operations. In this role, she provided operational and strategic leadership across the research organization, leading initiatives that strengthened portfolio visibility, streamlined knowledge management, and improved vendor and partnership performance. She also launched project management and operations centers of excellence to drive alignment, operational rigor, and visibility across the company’s research and development portfolio.

Rachel holds an MBA from Northeastern University, a BFA from the University of Oklahoma, and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

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Jeff Goater

Director

Biography

Jeff Goater joined The Column Group as a Venture Partner in 2021. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Surface Oncology.

During his tenure at Surface, the company fostered an award-winning culture, advanced four programs into clinical development, completed its initial public offering and secured multiple strategic collaborations, including a transformative partnership with GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to Surface, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Voyager Therapeutics where he was one of the members of the founding management team. While at Voyager, he led its crossover financing, initial public offering and strategic partnership with Sanofi Genzyme. Previously, Mr. Goater spent nearly a decade in investment banking, most recently as a managing director at Evercore Partners, advising on more than $100 billion in strategic transactions in the biopharma industry. He began his career as a research scientist in the field of AAV gene therapy and holds master’s degrees in microbiology/immunology (M.S.), pathology (M.S.) and business administration (M.B.A.) from the University of Rochester.

Mr. Goater serves on the boards of Surface Oncology, Vaccinex and LogicBio Therapeutics. He also serves on the board of advisors of Life Science Cares in Boston.

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Ken Horne

Director

Biography

Ken Horne is Managing Partner of AN Ventures, a global biotech investment firm focused on identifying scientific opportunities in Japan and building them into U.S.-based companies. Ken serves as Chairperson of the board of Typewriter Therapeutics, Capacity Bio, Pahr Therapeutics, Kan Therapeutics, En Biotherapeutics, and Ando Therapeutics, and as a board member of Imbria Pharmaceuticals and Tortugas Neuroscience.

Ken is a seasoned healthcare investor, entrepreneur, and executive with more than two decades of experience founding, scaling, and financing life sciences companies. Previously, he served as Chair of RDiscovery (Remiges Ventures). As an entrepreneur, he co-founded or led Aline Aesthetics (acquired by Allergan), Symic Bio (acquired by Nordic Bio), and Teon Therapeutics.

Earlier in his career, Ken was a founding member of TauTona Group, an early-stage life sciences venture capital fund. He began his career at The Foundry, a leading medtech incubator, and was involved in eValve (acquired by Abbott) and Cierra (acquired by Terumo).

Ken holds BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and is a Kauffman Fellow (Class 17), where he was the Jeff Timmons Leadership Award recipient.

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Jeff Jonas

Director

Biography

Dr. Jonas (Jeff) is a Partner at Cure Ventures and brings over two decades of experience in R&D leadership and cutting-edge CNS drug discovery and development across medicines and brands that have successfully helped millions of patients, such as Lexapro, Vyvanse, Zulresso, Zurzuvae and Namenda. Dr. Jonas’ significant company-building and advisory experience has generated considerable shareholder and stakeholder value, particularly when developing novel scientific approaches to CNS.

Prior to joining Cure, Dr. Jonas was the Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director at ABIO-X, a life science incubator for companies that are poised to bring transformative medicines and solutions to the global market. Before ABIO-X, Dr. Jonas was the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at Sage Therapeutics, where he led the development of industry-leading CNS treatments and development pipelines. Before Sage, he was President of the Regenerative Medicine Division at Shire Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for establishing the strategic direction of its marketed products and new product pipeline, including driving the achievement of R&D milestones. Early on in his career, Dr. Jonas served as Executive Vice President of ISIS Pharmaceuticals and held senior positions at Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Upjohn Laboratories.

Dr. Jonas has published more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers, chapters, abstracts, and books, and holds multiple patents. He received his B.A. from Amherst College and M.D. from Harvard Medical School, completed a residency in psychiatry at Harvard and served as Chief Resident of Psychopharmacology at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medicine School. Dr. Jonas was a member of the board for Karuna Pharmaceuticals (BMS) and currently is a member of the board for Generation Bio, and he is Chairman of the Board for Noema Therapeutics and Kenai Therapeutics.

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Albert Robichaud

President, Head of R&D

Biography

Dr. Robichaud (Al) is a Partner of Cure Ventures with over three decades of industry experience focused primarily on neuroscience. Prior to joining Cure, he was the founding scientist and Chief Scientific Officer at Sage Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines to treat life-threatening, rare CNS disorders. While there, Al helped launch the company into the public market in 2014 and built the entire research and development organization, culminating in the discovery and development of two commercially approved drugs, Zulresso and Zurzuvae, as well as 9 additional development candidates.

Prior to Sage, Al was the Vice President of Chemical and Pharmacokinetic Sciences at Lundbeck Research, USA, where he was responsible for the strategy and development of novel therapeutics for mood disorders, neurodegenerative disease, and psychiatric illness. Before Lundbeck Research, Al was the Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Wyeth Discovery Research where he focused on the direction of multiple key Neuroscience projects and succeeded in advancing more than 15 compounds into clinical development. Al has also held roles of varying responsibility at several big pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Al is an inventor of more than 100 granted US patents and US patent applications and has authored or co-authored more than 200 external publications and poster abstracts. He has given multiple invited lectures at universities and national symposia and has served as Section Editor for Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry, Editorial Advisor for Burger’s Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery as well as ACS journal Chemical Neuroscience. Al is a Scientific Advisory Board member to Morphic Rock Pharmaceuticals, Sage Therapeutics, as well as several venture capital initiatives.

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Alfredo Fontanini

Member

Biography

Dr. Fontanini (Alfredo) is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Stony Brook University. His lab studies the insular cortex (aka gustatory cortex) and other limbic areas involved in taste, reward and motivation. His research uses rat and mouse models, behavioral training, electrophysiology (multielectrode recordings and intracellular physiology), optical imaging (2-photon calcium imaging), pharmacology, molecular tools, anatomy and computational methods. At Stony Brook, he occupies a series of administrative positions, he serves as co-director of the Neuroscience Institute and the Hartman’s Center for Parkinson’s research and he is the co-chair of the University’s Committee for Academic Planning and Resource Allocation. He has served as Vice Provost for Research and Infrastructure at Stony Brook University.

For the last decade, Alfredo has engaged as a consultant on neuroscience matters with biotech investment funds, private investors, venture firms and biotech companies. He assisted with due diligence on private and public CNS/PNS companies, analyzed clinical trials for neuropsychiatric drugs, evaluated dozens of assets for company formation and participated on scientific advisory boards of biotech companies. He served on the scientific advisory board of Pappas Ventures, Sage Therapeutics and Noema Therapeutics.

Alfredo attended Medical School at the University of Pavia and University of Brescia (Italy), where he received his MD degree in 1998 and his PhD in Neuroscience (2003) under the mentorship of Drs. Pierfranco Spano, Maurizio Memo and James Bower. His graduate work was entirely performed at Caltech in the laboratory of Dr. James Bower. After postdoctoral fellowships at Brandeis University from 2002-2008 under the supervision of Drs. Sacha Nelson and Don Katz, he joined the faculty of Stony Brook University, where he is currently Professor of Neurobiology & Behavior. From 2003-2005 he was a Sloan-Swartz Fellow for Theoretical Neurobiology at Brandeis. In 2009 he became a Klingenstein Fellow, in 2010 received the Ajinomoto Award for Young Investigators in Gustation and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the White House. He is a member of the Society for Neuroscience and he is currently the President of the Association for Chemoreception Sciences.

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John Josey

Director

Biography

Dr. Josey joined The Column Group as a Venture Partner in 2020. Previously he served as the President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Peloton Therapeutics, Inc., from 2013 until its acquisition by Merck in 2019.

He joined Peloton in 2011 as the first employee in the role of President and Chief Scientific Officer. For over thirteen years, Dr. Josey was employed at Array BioPharma Inc., a company that he helped to build as a member of the founding management team. There he rose to Vice President of Discovery Chemistry. 

Dr. Josey’s previous experience also includes Amgen, Inc. and the Glaxo Research Institute. He received a B.S. degree in chemistry from Colorado State University, a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin, and an M.B.A. from the University of Colorado. He was a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology.

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Steven Witowski

Head of Quality 

Biography

Steven Witowski has twenty-five plus years of experience in the biotech industry from startups to large multinational organizations. An analytical chemist by training, he is a skilled and science-driven leader in all aspects of Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) and Quality. Prior to joining Tortugas Steven consulted for biotechnology companies, both foreign and domestic in roles ranging from analytical chemistry to regulatory affairs and has been involved in several successful NDA filings.

Before consulting, Steven held scientific and leadership roles in companies such as Celgene, Avila Therapeutics, and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals. He is a highly collaborative leader across all aspects of pharmaceutical development, including Clinical, Toxicology, and Regulatory Affairs.

Steven holds a BS from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a PhD from the University of Florida.

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Chad Beyer

Head of Research

Biography

Dr. Beyer (Chad) is the Head of Research with more than twenty-five years of CNS-focused pharma and biotech experience. He has a proven track record of building and leading high-performing cross-functional teams, while advancing programs from early R&D through clinical and regulatory execution.

Prior to joining Tortugas, Dr. Beyer served as CEO of Kures, a private clinical-stage company focused on precision neuropsychiatry and addiction. There, he led key pharmacodynamic clinical trials, completed an asset purchase agreement, and oversaw the company’s successful wind-down. Before that, he served as CEO and SVP of R&D at Promentis Pharmaceuticals, where he raised nearly $40 million in venture capital to advance a first-in-class glutamate modulator and support the first industry-sponsored trial in patients with trichotillomania.

Dr. Beyer has also been a drug development consultant with several small and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies. Before his consulting tenure, and after completing an internship at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Chad began his career at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals where he held various positions including Head of Neurochemistry. He has participated in the submission of 34 INDs and contributed key data to the development and commercialization of the antidepressants, Effexor XR and Pristiq.

Dr. Beyer holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology & Toxicology from LSU Medical Center and an MBA in Pharmaceutical Management from Rutgers Business School. Dr. Beyer also holds several academic appointments at various Universities and is an EIR at Lafayette College.