About

Dr. Brannan is a neuroscience drug development expert who has held senior positions overseeing both clinical development and medical affairs with more than 15 years of industry experience.  Previously, Dr. Brannan was the Therapeutic Head of Neuroscience at Takeda and Vice President for Clinical Research and Medical Affairs at Forum Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Brannan has been active in the development of multiple important central nervous system treatments including Cymbalta®, Exelon Patch®, Trintellix®, and Vagal Nerve Stimulation for Treatment Resistant Depression while holding various senior roles at Forum, Takeda, Novartis, Cyberonics, and Eli Lilly. His experience includes drug development, registration, medical affairs, launch and lifecycle management across psychiatry and neurology programs.  Dr. Brannan is a member of several scientific societies and groups, including ACNP, ISCTM (member of the Executive and Scientific Program Committees), ISCDD, AARR, IOM Neuroforum, and CNS Summit (founding member and member of the Leadership Council).

Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Brannan worked on the faculty at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) where he specialized in seeing mood and anxiety disorder patients, ran a clinical research unit, and did neuroimaging research at the Research Imaging Center.

Dr. Brannan trained in psychiatry at UTHSCSA and holds an M.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas (Southwestern Medical School). He has over 40 publications and routinely gives invited talks and presentations at industry conferences.

Dr. Miller is a Founder and the Chief Operating Officer of Karuna Therapeutics. Dr. Miller is the lead inventor of Karuna’s KarXT platform and served as CEO of Karuna from 2016-2018. He served as a member of our board of directors from April 2012 to March 2019. From August 2008 to July 2016, Dr. Miller held several positions at PureTech Health plc, last serving as a Vice President, Venture Partner, in such capacity served as Chief Operating Officer of Tal Medical and the acting Chief Operating Officer of Entrega, Inc. He is currently a member of the board of directors of Entrega, Inc.

Dr. Miller received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois with highest honors. He completed his doctoral work in chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received the MIT Presidential fellow and National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate fellowship awards. In 2016, Dr. Miller was named one of the top 40 innovators under 40 by MedTech Boston.

Troy A. Ignelzi has served as Karuna’s Chief Financial Officer since March 2019. He has spent 25 years supporting companies in finance, business development and operations. He joins Karuna from scPharmaceuticals, where in his role as Chief Financial Officer, he helped oversee development from a privately-held clinical-stage company to a publicly-traded biopharma preparing for commercial launch. Prior to scPharmaceuticals, Mr. Ignelzi was a senior executive at Juventas Therapeutics, Esperion Therapeutics, and Insys Therapeutics, helping raise public/private capital, expand development pipelines through licensing/acquisition and advancing critical therapies, several of which are currently approved by the FDA. He also brings relevant commercial experience, having launched and promoted CNS therapies while at Eli Lilly.

Mr. Ignelzi holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Ferris State University.

Prior to joining Karuna, Dr. Attardo was Vice President at Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Eli Lilly & Co., where he delivered several CNS imaging agents for exploratory clinical trials and completed the non-clinical development of Flortaucipir, a first in class PET imaging agent for tau. Before joining Eli Lilly & Co., Dr. Attardo held positions of increasing responsibility in CNS and oncology as Senior Director at both Chlorion Pharma and Gemin X Pharmaceuticals. His R&D efforts at Gemin X provided two oncology drug candidates, Obatoclax and Teglarinad, which were pivotal assets in the acquisition of Gemin X by Cephalon. Prior to Gemin X, Dr. Attardo was associate director of chemistry at BioChem Pharma and Shire Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Attardo received his Ph.D. from McGill University in 1991. His doctorate and industrial postdoctoral research at BioChem Pharma focused on the design, synthesis and preclinical development of novel oncolytics. He is an inventor on more than 65 patents and patent applications and has co-authored over 45 publications and 80 conference presentations.

Jim received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of South Carolina in 1985, working with Jim Marshall, following which he traveled to New Haven where he was an NIH and a Merck postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Sam Danishefsky at Yale University. He joined Eli Lilly and Company in 1987 (NYSE: LLY) where he enjoyed a long and successful career, rising to the level of distinguished Lilly scholar. While at Lilly, Jim contributed broadly to the portfolio both from his laboratory which produced numerous development candidates in neuroscience and oncology and through the important role he played in portfolio oversight. Retiring from Lilly in 2010, Jim joined Cambridge-based Constellation Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CNST) as Chief Scientific Officer, helping the company translate its expertise in chromatin biology into a robust portfolio of small molecule development candidates in oncology. He continues to serve as special scientific advisor to the company and is a member of its board of directors. Jim also serves on both the scientific advisory board and board of directors of Ribon Therapeutics, and the scientific advisory board for the Tau Consortium of the Rainwater Charitable Foundation. In 2016, Jim joined Northwestern University in Chicago as executive director of the Chicago Biomedical Consortium, a unique collaboration among NU, The University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. He continues to have an ongoing scientific advisory role with the CBC. Most recently, in addition to joining Karuna, Jim has taken an entrepreneur-in-residence position with Third Rock Ventures, consults for a broad range of biotech and pharmaceutical companies and serves on a variety of Chicago-based advisory boards.

Jim is currently a visiting scholar at Northwestern University and an adjunct professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His success in drug discovery has resulted in more than 100 issued US Patents and more than 120 papers, published abstracts and book chapters.

Dr. Brophy is an established neruropsychiatric regulatory leader with more than 39 years of experience, including central regulatory leadership roles in the development and FDA approval of some of the most important neuropsychiatric medicines, including Zyprexa®, Cymbalta®, Strattera®, and Nuplazid®, for a variety of indications.

Dr. Brophy spent the majority of his career at Eli Lilly and Company, where he was the Senior Director of Global Regulatory Affairs for Lilly’s neuroscience portfolio. He received his Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.

Jason Brown leads… the finance and accounting functions at Karuna. He joined Karuna from PureTech Health where he supported the financing and operational growth of PureTech Health and its affiliates as vice president of corporate finance, including supporting resTORbio’s Initial Public Offering and over $100 million of private venture financing transactions. Prior to PureTech Health, Mr. Brown spent five years at Novartis in roles of increasing responsibility within the finance department.

Mr. Brown received his MBA at Boston College and bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College.

Dr. Felder received his Ph.D. in 1987 in the Department of Biochemistry at Georgetown University School of Medicine. He joined NIMH in Bethesda, MD as a staff fellow in 1987 and completed his postdoctoral training in neuroscience in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate, Dr. Julius Axelrod. He remained at the NIMH as head of the Unit on Cell and Molecular Signaling where his lab focused on the molecular mechanisms of neurotransmitter action and their role in neuropsychiatric diseases. In 1997, he joined the Neuroscience Division at Eli Lilly & Co. in Indianapolis, IN were he led multiple drug discovery efforts from inception through to early clinical development. His many roles included leading discovery research teams, Director of Neuroscience in US and UK sites, strategic and technical committee oversight, external search and evaluate roles and Director of the Lilly Post Doc Program. After 21 years at Lilly he retired as a Director and Research Fellow and joined Karuna Therapeutics in 2018.

Dr. Felder is currently an Adjunct Professor at Monash University, in Melbourne, Australia and a visiting Lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He has co-authored over 160 original publications, invited reviews and book chapters, organized 21 scientific symposia, mentored over 60 students and post docs, and has been invited to speak at numerous international symposiums and universities.

Inder Kaul, M.D., MPH is a strategic drug development executive with strong leadership and management skills. Dr. Kaul is an experienced global drug development leader with track record of success in regulatory project achievement worldwide, portfolio governance, translational science and commercialization support including medical affairs, life-cycle management, in-licensing and out-licensing evaluations. He has been a member of executive leadership teams inclusive of public companies, supported many business development/corporate transactions and interacted with board of directors, analysts and investors. Dr. Kaul is a versatile leader who has worked effectively within small, mid-size and large pharmaceutical/biotech companies and CROs. His expertise includes multiple therapeutic areas including neuroscience, orphan drug development and breakthrough designations. Dr. Kaul’s accomplishments include successful filing/support of 4 NDAs, 2 SNDAs and 1 BLA including 3 FDA Advisory Committee meetings; transition of 6 NCEs from Discovery to FIH clinical assessment including IND submissions; and successful filing of 2 PSPs and PIPs.

Dr. Kaul’s employment history prior to joining Karuna Therapeutics includes executive management roles at Kaul Consulting LLC; Asahi Kasei Pharma America; Oscient Pharmaceuticals; Abt Associates Inc.; and AAI. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kaul held positions of increasing responsibility at Pfizer; Boehringer Ingelheim and Parexel International Corporation. Dr. Kaul received his M.D. in 1983, and MPH in 1988 from Harvard University.

Mia Kelley is Karuna’s Vice President of Legal Affairs. She joined Karuna from PureTech Health, where she handled a range of legal matters for both PureTech and its affiliate companies as Vice President, Corporate Counsel, including public equity offerings, private venture financing transactions and a range of general corporate matters. Prior to PureTech, Mia was an attorney at WilmerHale, where she advised both public and private clients on a range of matters, including equity and debt offerings, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate governance.

Mia received her J.D. from Northwestern University and her bachelor’s degree from Emory University.

James Monn, PhD, obtained his bachelor of science degree in Chemistry from St. John’s University (MN), his doctorate degree in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Kansas and his postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health.  Jim took a position as a senior organic chemist at Eli Lilly and Company in 1989, focusing on the discovery of novel agents for the treatment of CNS disorders and has continued to work on CNS-associated targets since that time.  Following 28 years of service, Jim retired from Lilly in December of 2017.  Since then, he has worked as an independent scientific consultant and as the head of chemistry at Anagin, Inc.  He has recently been named adjunct senior research professor in the department of clinical pharmacology at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

While at Lilly, Jim was regarded as an accomplished scientific team leader, guiding several multidisciplinary teams toward the delivery of clinical candidates. He is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the discovery of novel therapeutic agents targeting metabotropic glutamate receptors including Eglumegad and Talaglumetad-HCl (Anxiety Disorders), Pomaglumetad Methionil (Schizophrenia) and LY2979165 (Psychosis and Agitation in Dementia).  Jim also held roles as a scientific group leader, advisor to numerous drug discovery teams, mentor to less experienced scientists and was a member of various discovery oversight groups.  While the majority of his research has centered on glutamatergic mechanisms for the treatment of psychiatric and neurologic disorders, Jim has had leadership responsibilities for discovery teams focused on other target classes including voltage gated ion channels, enzymes, and protein-protein interactions.  Jim has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, 18 reviews and book chapters, 200 abstracts and is recognized as an inventor on 40 patents.

Stephanie Moore is the Vice President of Human Resources for Karuna Therapeutics where she works with the leadership team to design and manage the overall people strategy and development for the company. Previously, Stephanie lead Kymera Therapeutics’ efforts to build the company’s R&D team while also expanding their onboarding, policy, and performance management programs. She was also the Director of Human Resources for RA Capital Management, a Boston-based healthcare investment fund focused on early-stage drug development companies where she helped develop the fund’s culture through programs that promoted collaborative training, continual feedback, professional development, authentic relationship building, and a results-oriented work environment. Steph started her HR/recruiting career in executive search, working with higher education, financial services, and life sciences clients.

Stephanie earned her M.A. from the University of Rochester in Film Studies and B.A. in English Literature from Boise State University. She has worked closely with The Innocence Project and served as a mentor for at-risk youth. She lives in Boston with her partner, Brendan and dog, Wallace.

Sharon Sawchak has over 30 years of experience in the life sciences industry. She currently is the Vice President of Clinical Operations and Compliance at Karuna. Since April 2015 she has acted as President and CEO of Axenic Management, offering biotech and pharmaceutical clinical development consulting services. Prior to this, between December 2002 and December 2015 she worked for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in a number of drug development and operational roles. More recently she held the position of Sr. Director Clinical Sciences, Neurosciences. In this role she was Project Leader for biologic assets in development for improvement in motor function after neuronal injury, accountable for medicines development strategy and clinical development planning, and was a key contributor to preparation of multiple briefing packages and other regulatory documents. Previously, Sharon had been operationally responsible for global Phase 2 and Phase 3 programs in Alzheimer’s disease, and was designated as a GSK Operations Key Asset Team Leader for this indication during her tenure at GSK.

Sharon has extensive experience in a range of medical areas and she has strong knowledge of cardiac safety (ECG measuring) and respiratory measurement services.  She has evaluated and managed multiple endpoint vendors for services for global clinical trial in multiple indications. She has also worked with a variety of eTools in eCOA in the area of patient movement and cognition. She has particular expertise in delivering major business benefits through the development of robust clinical and regulatory strategies and the creation and operation of effective global programs. From a critical care nursing background, Sharon made the transition to industry in 1990, after working at the Duke Clinical Research Institute. She is a licensed Registered Nurse with a BSc in Business Administration.