Amit Etkin, M.D., Ph.D. of Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer Amit Etkin, M.D., Ph.D. founded Alto in 2019, is our President and Chief Executive Officer and serves as Chair of our board of directors. Prior to founding Alto, Dr. Etkin was a tenured Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, where he held multiple leading roles. During his more than a decade on faculty, Dr. Etkin ran a well-funded lab with over 30 students, post-doctoral researchers, and staff, and was jointly appointed at the Palo Alto Veteran Affairs hospital. Dr. Etkin has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles in leading basic science and clinical journals and ranks in the top 0.1% of researchers by citations worldwide. His exceptional research contributions during his tenure at Stanford led to Dr. Etkin being awarded the National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award, the most competitive and prestigious NIH grant, and the first in history to be awarded in clinical psychiatry. Adam Savitz, M.D., Ph.D. of Chief Medical Officer Adam Savitz, M.D., Ph.D. has served as our Chief Medical Officer since July 2021. Before joining us, Dr. Savitz served in various roles at Janssen Research and Development, LLC, a pharmaceutical company, from May 2011 to June 2021, most recently serving as Senior Director Clinical Research from July 2017 to June 2021. From 2020 to 2021, he served as Clinical Strategy Leader for the Mood Disorder Disease Area Stronghold. Dr. Savitz served as a full-time faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine, including as unit chief of an inpatient psychiatry unit, from 2001 until 2011. Michael Hanley of Chief Operating Officer Michael Hanley joined Alto as our Chief Operating Officer in May 2024. He brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in life sciences, the majority of which focused on CNS-related disorders. Mr. Hanley’s career spans across the product life cycle from early-stage new product planning and portfolio strategy to product launch and brand management. Prior to Alto, Mr. Hanley served as Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Business Officer at Aeglea BioTherapeutics, General Manager at Horizon Therapeutics, and Head of US Sales for Lundbeck’s psychiatry business unit, where he was responsible for managing TRINTELLIX (vortioxetine) and ABILIFY MAINTENA (aripiprazole) and preparing for the launch of REXULTI (brexpiprazole). Throughout his career, Mr. Hanley has worked in and held leadership roles in a wide range of neuropsychiatric indications, including major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, sleep disorders, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS. Jessica Powell of Chief Development Officer Jessica Powell has served as our Chief Development Officer since September 2023, having served as our Vice President, Clinical Operations from June 2022 to September 2023. Prior to joining us, Ms. Powell served in roles of increasing responsibility at Alkahest, Inc., a biotechnology company, from March 2018 to June 2022, most recently serving as its Vice President, Clinical Operations. Before joining Alkahest, Ms. Powell was a Senior Clinical Project Manager at Bioclinica, a contract research organization, from April 2015 to December 2017, where she led Phase 3 Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s clinical trials. From August 2014 to April 2015, Ms. Powell served as a Project Manager at SRI International with a focus on IND enabling preclinical studies. Earlier in her career, Ms. Powell managed a large neuroscience lab from April 2001 to September 2013 at Stanford University with funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Nick Smith of Chief Financial Officer Nicholas Smith has served as our Chief Financial Officer since November 2022 and has served as our Chief Business Officer since September 2021. Mr. Smith also served as a member of our board of directors from July 2023 through October 2023. Prior to joining us, Mr. Smith served in various roles at Aptinyx Inc., a CNS-focused biopharmaceutical company, from March 2017 until September 2021, including Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development from March 2021 to September 2021, Senior Director, Corporate Development and Investor Relations from March 2019 to March 2021, and Director, Corporate Development from March 2017 to March 2019. Gerard Sanacora, M.D., Ph.D. of George D. and Esther S. Gross Professor of Psychiatry, Director of Yale Depression Research Program, Yale University Dr. Sanacora is a Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University and the Director of the Yale Depression Research Program. Dr. Sanacora’s work has focused largely on elucidating the pathophysiological mechanisms associated with mood and other neuropsychiatric disorders and using this information to inform the development of novel treatment strategies. His preclinical research laboratory explores the effects of stress and pharmaceutical agents on cellular biology, neurophysiology and behavior. His clinical laboratory employs novel imaging methodologies to investigate the pathophysiology of mood and other neuropsychiatric disorders. In addition, he has served as principal investigator on several large clinical trials investigating the efficacy and safety of newly developed therapeutic agents for the treatment of mood disorders. Dr. Sanacora is a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
