Unlocking the power of next-generation medicines.

Founded in 2019, Psilera is a scientist lead, female co-founded biotechnology research company.

We specialize in early-stage drug discovery & development to provide new neurological therapies to underserved patient populations.

Meet The Team

Jackie von Salm, PhD

Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer

Chris Witowski, PhD

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Jeanine Yacoub, MS

Director of Drug Discovery & Development

Elena Bray, PhD

Director of Medicinal Chemistry

Katie DeMarsh, MBA

Director of Marketing

Board of Directors

Magali Haas, MD/ PhD

  • Current Chief Medical Officer.

    Founder and Chair of Cohen Veterans Bioscience.

    She has held leadership roles at Janssen and Johnson & Johnson over the course of her illustrious career, dedicated to improving brain health.

Scott Rairigh, MS

  • Current Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at Psilera in addition to serving on the Board of Directors.

    31 years of experience in pharmaceutical development from industry leaders such as BMS, Johnson & Johnson and Roche.

Roberto Velarde, MBA

  • Managing Partner at Iter Investments

    Roberto is a seasoned private markets investor with over 25 years of global private equity investment experience in a broad range of industries in US, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Advisors

  • Elizabeth Finger, M.D.

    -Clinical Researcher

    -FTD Advisor, Psilera

    Dr. Finger is the leading expert in behavioral neurology associated with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). She is currently running a phase II study in FTD with intranasal oxytocin.

  • John Gregg, M.B.A.

    -Chairman & CEO, BalinBac Therapeutics, Inc.

    -Non-executive Director, Psilera

    Over 33 years of experience in pharmaceutical industry. Focused areas of expertise: Medical Devices, Biotechnology, Market Research, Endocrinology, and Healthcare.

  • Lori Hoberman, Esq.

    -Founder, Hoberman Law Group PLLC

    -Legal Advisor, Psilera

    Lori specializes in advising entrepreneurs and their investors on how to build successful businesses and strategically guides them through the emerging, later stages and exits of their companies.

  • Edgar J. Aseby

    -Partner at Keller Asebey Life Science Law PLLC

    -Legal Advisor, Psilera

    Edgar a regulatory and transactional attorney with over two decades of experience in federal regulation of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, food, dietary supplement and cosmetics companies.

  • Anthony Artuso, Ph.D.

    -Vice President Strategic Planning, Bristol-Myers Squibb

    Anthony is a Harvard and Cornell graduate with over 30 years of experience. He provides perspective and context for our asset and ROI valuation process.

  • Christopher R. Nicholas, Ph.D.

    -Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

    -Clinical Development Advisor, Psilera

    Clinical psychologist and research scientist focused on investigating the therapeutic application and mechanisms of psychedelics (psilocybin; DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, MDMA) and novel compounds for mental health, addiction, and chronic pain.

  • Dorf Nelson & Zauderer LLP

    -Patent Advisors, Psilera

    DN&Z has been providing legal services and solutions to corporations, entrepreneurs, growing businesses and successful companies for over 30 years in the areas of litigation, corporate law, labor and employment law, intellectual property, life sciences, cybersecurity and data privacy.

  • Facet Life Sciences

    -Scientific and Regulatory Experts

    -Regulatory Advisors, Psilera

    Facet leverages strong scientific, development, and regulatory expertise to help small organizations bring great science and innovative products to and through the FDA.

  • Jade Brown, M.B.A.

    -Biotechnology Transactional Advisor

    With over 30 years experience in leading biopharma business transactions (collectively $1B+), he specializes in working with small biotech in external business development roles.

Collaborators

  • Dani Gulick, Ph.D.

    -Associate Professor & Researcher at University of South Florida

    -Scientific collaborator since 2021

    Dani provides invaluable insights into small mammal behavior testing and data interpretation.

  • Cody Wenthur, PharmD & Ph.D.

    -Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin Maddison

    -Director of Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation

    -Research collaborator since 2021

    Pursues the development and application of chemical and biological tools that can uncover shared molecular deficits in stress management and reward function.

  • Michael Baumann, Ph.D.

    -Staff Scientist at The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

    -Scientific Advisor since 2020

    33 years of dedication to the advancement of knowledge tied to addictions and their treatments.

  • John McCorvy, Ph.D.

    -Assistant Professor at Medical College of Wisconsin

    -Scientific collaborator since 2020

    Over 13 years of experience in academic research specializing in the understanding of psychedelic compounds.

  • Steven Austin, Ph.D.

    -Postdoctoral Researcher, University of South Florida

    -Scientific collaborator since 2019

    Steven’s passionate research into computational chemistry platforms has honed the development of our own drug development platform: Psilera Third Eye.

  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

    -Collaborators since 2020

    In coordination with the National Institute of Health, NIDA and Psilera have joined forces to better understand the therapeutic potential of re-purposed psychedelic compounds.

  • Hesperos

    - Collaborators since 2025

    - Developers of organ-on-a-chip technology being used to study disease mechanisms and drug efficacy in the preclinical stages of PSIL-006.