Team – Seaport Therapeutics

Our Leadership has a proven track record

Seaport was founded by pioneers in the neuropsychiatry field and is led by a team of seasoned industry veterans with a shared mission to transform the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders and improve patients’ lives.

Daphne Zohar

Founder, CEO & Board Member

Daphne Zohar is the Founder, CEO and Board Member of Seaport Therapeutics. Previously, she was the Founder, CEO and Board Member of PureTech Health, where she also co-founded PureTech’s entities, including Karuna Therapeutics, which developed the groundbreaking antipsychotic drug, Cobenfy (KarXT)…

Steven Paul, M.D.

Founder, Board Chair

Dr. Steven Paul is Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors at Seaport Therapeutics. He has over 40 years of experience as a physician-scientist specializing in neuroscience and molecular neuropharmacology as well as CNS drug discovery and development. Dr. Paul previously…

Steven Paul, M.D.

Founder, Board Chair

Dr. Steven Paul is Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors at Seaport Therapeutics.

He has over 40 years of experience as a physician-scientist specializing in neuroscience and molecular neuropharmacology as well as CNS drug discovery and development.

Dr. Paul previously served President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chair of the Board (2018-2022) and Chief Scientific Officer and President of Research and Development (2022-2024) at Karuna Therapeutics, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in March 2024.

He is an expert in CNS drug discovery and development. Dr. Paul spent 17 years at Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY), during which time he held several key leadership roles, including Executive Vice President for Science and Technology and President of the Lilly Research Laboratories. At Lilly he was responsible for the company’s overall research and development efforts and helped to oversee the development of CNS drugs such as Zyprexa® and Cymbalta® as well as the development of xanomeline where its antipsychotic and procognitive properties were initially demonstrated.

Prior to Lilly, Dr. Paul spent 18 years at the National Institute of Health (NIH) and served as the Scientific Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Dr. Paul is a co-founder and board member of Sage Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SAGE) and a co-founder of Voyager Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VYGR) where he served as President, Chief Executive Officer.

He is a Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures. Dr. Paul is the former director of the Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College and is currently a Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Washington University of St. Louis School of Medicine.

Dr. Paul has authored or co-authored more than 550 papers and book chapters. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). He is also an elected Fellow Emeritus of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) and served as ACNP President (1999).

Dr. Paul is the Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for the NIH (FNIH) and previously served on the Science Board of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in addition to serving on many other advisory committees and receiving many awards and honors for his scientific research.

Dr. Paul received his bachelor’s degree in Biology and Psychology from Tulane University, and his M.S. and M.D. degrees from the Tulane University School of Medicine.

Antony Loebel, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer, President of Clinical Development

Antony Loebel, M.D. is the Chief Medical Officer and President of Clinical Development at Seaport Therapeutics. He was most recently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, a global pharmaceutical company focused on CNS drug development…

Michael Chen, Ph.D.

Co-Founder, Chief Scientific Officer

Michael Chen, Ph.D., is Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Seaport Therapeutics. In his most recent role, he was Head of Innovation at PureTech Health, where he oversaw the rapid advancement of the neuropsychiatric medicines that led to the launch of Seaport Therapeutics…

Lana Gladstein, J.D.

General Counsel

Lana Gladstein, J.D. is General Counsel at Seaport Therapeutics. She has over two decades of legal expertise, including corporate governance, navigating M&A transactions, licensing and partnerships, and intellectual property matters. Most recently, she was the Group General Counsel at APRINOIA Therapeutics…

Lauren White

Chief Financial Officer

Lauren White is Chief Financial Officer at Seaport Therapeutics. She has over 22 years of corporate finance, accounting, strategic partnering and investor relations expertise. Most recently, Ms. White served as the Chief Financial Officer at ImmunoGen (NASDAQ: IMGN) prior to its acquisition by AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) for $10.1 billion in 2024…

Steven Paul, M.D.

Founder, Board Chair

Steven Paul, M.D.

Founder, Board Chair

Dr. Steven Paul is Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors at Seaport Therapeutics.

He has over 40 years of experience as a physician-scientist specializing in neuroscience and molecular neuropharmacology as well as CNS drug discovery and development.

Dr. Paul received his bachelor’s degree in Biology and Psychology from Tulane University, and his M.S. and M.D. degrees from the Tulane University School of Medicine.

Daphne Zohar

Founder, CEO & Board Member

David Wheadon, M.D.

Board Member

David Wheadon, M.D., is a member of the Board of Directors at Seaport. He most recently served as Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs, Patient Safety and Quality Assurance at AstraZeneca…

Sharon Mates, Ph.D.

Board Member

Sharon Mates, Ph.D. is a member of the Board of Directors of Seaport. She served as Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Intra‑Cellular Therapies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITCI) from inception of the company in June 2002 until the company’s acquisition by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) for approximately $14.6 billion…

Robert Nelsen

Board Member

Robert Nelsen

Board Member

Robert Nelsen is a member of the Board of Directors at Seaport. He is co-founder and a Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners. He joined ARCH at its founding and played a significant role in the creation, early sourcing, financing and development of more than 150 companies, including 47 which have reached valuations exceeding $1 billion.

Mr. Nelsen is focused on generating new ideas for disruptive technologies or business models and partnering with founding management teams and entrepreneurs to execute on these visions by advancing novel platform technologies with the overarching goal of improving health care and outcomes.

Some of his notable early-stage investments include Illumina (ILMN), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Juno Therapeutics (JUNO – acquired by Celgene), Beam Therapeutics (BEAM), Karuna Therapeutics (KRTX), Altos Labs, EQRx (EQRX), National Resilience, Prime Medicine (PRME), Lyell Immunopharma (LYEL), Array BioPharma (ARRY – acquired by Pfizer), Hua Medicine (2552:HK), Vir Biotechnology (VIR), Insitro, Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO), Sage Therapeutics (SAGE), GRAIL (acquired by Illumina), Gossamer Bio (GOSS), Ikaria (acquired by Mallinckrodt), Kythera Biopharmaceuticals (KYTH – acquired by Allergan), Receptos (RCPT – acquired by Celgene), Aviron (AVIR – acquired by MedImmune), Denali Therapeutics (DNLI), Syros Pharmaceuticals (SYRS), Sana Biotechnology (SANA), Verve Therapeutics (VERV), Brii Biosciences (2137:HK), Bluebird Bio (BLUE), R2 Technology (acquired by Hologic), Caliper Life Sciences (CALP – acquired by PerkinElmer), Trubion Pharmaceuticals (TRBN – acquired by Emergent Biosolutions), Adolor (ADLR – acquired by Cubist Pharmaceuticals), deCODE Genetics (DCGN – acquired by Amgen), Editas (EDIT), 10x Genomics, Semma Therapeutics (acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals), Element Genomics, and IDUN Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer).

Mr. Nelsen is also a director of VIR, SANA, LYEL, PRME, National Resilience, Insitro, Nutcracker Therapeutics, Brii Biosciences, and serves as Chairman of Hua Medicine, among others. He previously served as a Trustee of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, the Institute of Systems Biology, and was a director of the National Venture Capital association. Mr. Nelsen holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.S. from the University of Puget Sound with majors in Economics and Biology.

Jim Healy, M.D, Ph.D.

Board Member

Jim Healy, M.D., Ph.D.

Board Member

Jim Healy, M.D., Ph.D., is a member of the Board of Directors at Seaport. He is Managing Partner at Sofinnova Investments. Throughout Jim’s twenty-year career with Sofinnova he has invested in thirty two companies. Twenty-two of his investments have gone public and eleven have been acquired as private or public companies. He has funded companies where thirteen products were approved by the FDA or EMA. Dr. Healy is currently the Chairman of BioAge Labs, and a member of the board of directors for ArriVent, Atsena, Bolt (BOLT), Karuna (KRTX), Natera (NTRA), Rapport, Y-mAbs (YMAB), and a board observer at Visen. Most recently he served as the Chairman of CinCor (CINC) prior to its acquisition by AstraZeneca for $1.8B.

Dr. Healy received a B.A. in Molecular Biology and B.A. Scandinavian Studies from UC Berkeley where he graduated with Honors and received the Departmental Citation. He subsequently completed the NIH sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program and received his MD and PhD in Immunology from Stanford University where he received the Novartis Foundation Bursary Award and was a Beckman Scholar. He authored or co-authored thirteen scientific articles and reviews, including three papers published in Nature.

Prior to Sofinnova, Dr. Healy worked at Bayer (Miles) and Sanderling. He has lectured on entrepreneurship at Stanford University and served on the boards of the Executive Committee at UC Berkeley, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). Throughout his career, Dr. Healy has received numerous awards and in 2021 was selected as the recipient of the NVCA Excellence in Healthcare Innovation Award for his commitment to the advancement of healthcare innovation through his investment in groundbreaking biotechnology companies that are working on treatments and cures for the most deadly and costly diseases.

Dr. Healy previously served as a member of the Board of Directors or was an investor in the following fund VII – X companies: Amarin (AMRN), Apellis (APLS), Ascendis (ASND),Audentes (BOLD: acquired by Astellas), Auris (EARS), Durata (DRTX: acquired by Actavis), CinCor (CINC: acquired by AstraZeneca), Edge (PDSB: acquired by PDS Biotechnology), Hyperion (HPTX: aquired by Horizon Pharma), Iterum (ITRM), Nucana (NCNA), Obseva (OBSV), PregLem (acquired by Gedeon Richter), Salveo (acquired by Catamaran), and Tesaro (TSRO).

Sandi Peterson

Board Member

Sandi Peterson is a member of the Board of Directors at Seaport. She also serves on the Microsoft Board of Directors as the lead independent director. Ms. Peterson is an Operating Partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, (CD&R), a private investment firm…

Denice Torres, J.D.

Board Member

Denice Torres, J.D. is a member of the Board of Directors at Seaport. She brings notable public and private board experience to Seaport, including a position on the Board of Directors at Karuna Therapeutics until its acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb in March 2024…

Bob Hombach

Board Member

Robert “Bob” Hombach is a member of the Board of Directors at Seaport and serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee. He is the former Chief Financial Officer at Baxter (NYSE: BAX)as well as Baxalta (NYSE: BXLT), prior to its acquisition by Shire in 2016….

Eric Elenko, Ph.D.

Board Member

Eric Elenko, Ph.D., is a member of the Board of Directors at Seaport. He is also co-founder and President at PureTech where he has led the development of a number of programs, including two that have received US FDA clearance and a third (KarXT)…

Robert Lyne

Board Member

Robert Lyne is a member of the Board of Directors at Seaport. He is also the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors at PureTech. Mr. Lyne is an experienced leader of UK-listed life science innovation and venture capital companies…

Jason Pitts, Ph.D.

Board Member

Jason Pitts, Ph.D., is a Board Member at Seaport. He is a Vice President at General Atlantic, a leading global growth investor, and focuses on investments in the Life Sciences sector. Before joining General Atlantic in 2021, Jason was a Principal at Sofinnova Investments….

Courtney Wallace

Board Advisor

Courtney Wallace is a Board Observer at Seaport. She is a Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures, where she focuses on the creation, development, and strategy of new biotechnology companies…