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Board of Directors
Casey Lynch, President, Neurotechnology Development Foundation
Casey Lynch is the co-founder and President of the Neurotechnology Development foundation and Managing Director of NeuroInsights. Casey works with companies to develop and implement strategic business plans and helps investors identify opportunities in neurotechnology. She is co-author of The Neurotechnology Industry Report, a comprehensive market analysis and strategic investment report on the brain industry and is the Managing Editor of Neurotech Insights, the neurotechnology investment newsletter. Previously, Casey was the co-founder and CEO of Aspira Biosystems, a venture backed drug discovery platform-company, which was acquired by Nanomune Inc. in 2004. Prior to the four years building Aspira, Casey oversaw toxicology screening and evaluated new product opportunities at Centaur Pharmaceuticals. There, she established disease model testing paradigms for multiple sclerosis, uveitis, and other neurological disorders. Casey conducted primate preclinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease treatment at the Wadsworth Medical Center in Los Angeles and researched the neurological basis of schizophrenia and epilepsy at UCLA. Her graduate work on neurotrophic factor cell biology and neurodegenerative diseases was carried out in the Mobley lab at UCSF/ Stanford University.
Frank Eeckman, MD, PhD Consultant
Dr. Frank Eeckman is an analyst and consultant at NeuroInsights helping companies and investors identify and vet opportunities in neurotechnology. He writes indication and company features for Neurotech Insights, the neurotechnology industry newsletter published by NeuroInsights. He is the Director of Regulatory Policy at The Neurotechnology Industry Organization and co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Centient Biotech. Dr. Eeckman was an early innovator in the genomics revolution, leading Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories’ bioinformatics team on the Human Genome Project. He has helped launch three biotech startups and headed discovery groups at Parke-Davis and Pfizer. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of several biotech companies, and provides investment analysis to venture capitalists and fund managers as well as consulting to both large and small companies.
Zack Lynch, Executive Director, Neurotechnology Industry Organization
He is also the founder and Executive Director of the Neurotechnology Industry Organization, a trade association formed to accelerate treatments for the brain and nervous system. Zack is an economic and social forecaster advising global organizations on the impact of neurotechnology on business, government and society. Mr. Lynch serves on the advisory boards of McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics, the Institute for Global Futures, and Socialtext, a software company.
Paul Zak, PhD, Professor of Neurology, Loma Linda University, Professor of Economics, Claremont University
Paul J. Zak is Professor of Economics and the founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Zak also serves as Professor of Neurology at Loma Linda University Medical Center, and is a Senior Researcher at UCLA. He has degrees in mathematics and economics from San Diego State University, a Ph.D. in economics from University of Pennsylvania, and post-doctoral training in neuroimaging from Harvard. His new book “Moral Markets: The Critical Role of Values in the Economy” appeared in 2008 from Princeton University Press. Professor Zak is credited with the first published use of the term "neuroeconomics" and has been a vanguard in this new discipline that integrates neuroscience and economics. Dr. Zak's lab discovered in 2004 that an ancient chemical in our brains, oxytocin, allows us to determine who to trust. This knowledge is being used to understand the basis for modern civilizations and modern economies, improve negotiations, and treat patients with neurologic and psychiatric disorders.
Cameron Johnson, MD, Director, Adult Inpatient Psychiatry and Partial Hospital Psychiatry, Loma Linda University
Dr. Cameron Johnson is the Director of the Adult Inpatient Psychiatry and Partial Hospital Psychiatry at Loma Linda University. He is a leading expert on how medical illness and the brain interrelate. Since 1995 Dr. Johnson has held several leadership positions at Loma Linda University including the medical staff president for five years and director of consult and liason psychiatry. Dr. Johnson has an undergraduate degree in psychobiology and an M.D. from Loma Linda University. Over his career, he has visited hospitals throughout the world including spending a year delivering babies and performing general medicine in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Ethiopia.
Dan O'Connell, Managing Director, NeuroVentures Capital
Dan is a founding member and partner of NeuroVentures Capital LLC, a specialty venture capital firm, established in 2000 to invest in emerging biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies dedicated to developing better treatments for Central Nervous System diseases. Currently, he represents NeuroVentures on the board of Setagon and is an observer with Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Concentric Medical and Rivanna Pharmaceuticals. He was previously a board observer to Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems. Dan’s experience with neuroscience-related medical technology companies includes co-founding MedSpecialists, Inc., a venture-backed clinical applications service provider, and Surgical Solutions, LLC, a company which developed neurosurgical products licensed from leading research institutions. Prior to attending business school, Dan worked as an Associate in the investment banking group at Advest, Inc. He holds a B.A. from Brown University and M.B.A. from the University of Virginia.
David Summa, Executive Biotechnology Consultant
David Summa is an biotechnology consultant who was most recently President and CEO of Acumen Pharmaceuticals, a pre-clinical drug development company developing therapeutics and diagnostics to prevent Alzheimer's disease. Prior to joining Acumen, Dave was the President and CEO of Mendel Biotechnology, a successful genomics company that was the first to functionally characterize all the transcription factors in arabidopsis thaliana. Mendel's traits now form the core of the Monsanto product pipeline. Before joining the ranks of Bay Area biotech entrepreneurs, Dave was a Vice President at Monsanto where he created Renessen, the joint venture between Cargill and Monsanto.Prior to joining Monsanto, Dave was a partner at McKinsey & Company, Inc. where he was the global leader of the Innovation Practice. Dave received his BS and MS from MIT in the department of Chemical Engineering.
Nola Masterson, Managing Director, Science Futures
Since 1982, Nola has been the chief executive officer of Science Futures Inc., an investment and advisory firm. She is on the board of directors of Repros Therapeutics and Generex Biotechnology, Inc. (NasdaqCM: GNBT) located in Toronto, Canada. She serves on the audit committee, nominating committee and the compensation committee for Repros Therapeutics Inc. Ms. Masterson was the first biotechnology analyst on Wall Street, working with Drexel Burnham Lambert and Merrill Lynch, and is a co-founder of Sequenom, Inc., a genetic analysis company located in San Diego and Hamburg, Germany. Ms. Masterson is the Chair of the Bay Bio Institute, a 501(c) 3 part of BayBio, which promotes science education, workforce development and best practices as well as entrepreneurs in the bioeconomy. Ms. Masterson began her business career at Ames Company, a division of Bayer, and spent eight years at Millipore Corporation in sales and sales management. Ms. Masterson has 33 years of experience in the life science industry.
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