Sandeep Patil PhD MD

Cofounder and CEO

Dr. Patil has steered Praxis Bioresearch since its founding in 2014 as a clinical-stage biopharma company. During this time, he oversaw the discovery and early development of a major therapeutic asset for multiple indications, won successive SBIR awards, and engineered the formation of a strong core team with renowned thinkers and drug developers. He holds multiple patents in diverse areas such as chemistry, computer method systems to prevent patch overdose and a biomechanical device. In his current position, Dr. Patil has successfully raised funds (including non-dilutive US $5M) to advance company assets. Previously, Dr. Patil led many preclinical and clinical development programs for nearly 15  years at pharmaceutical companies such as Lilly, Takeda, Theravance, Astra Zeneca, etc. His work in drug development has resulted in first-authored publications in top-tier scientific journals, such as Nature Medicine and the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.  

Dr. Patil completed his Master’s and PhD training in Physiology and Cell Biology from the Albany Medical College, graduating with top academic and research awards. He performed his clinical residency in Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania before entering pharmaceutical research and development.

Rick Winningham

Cofounder and Strategic Advisor

Mr. Rick E. Winningham has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Theravance Biopharma, Inc. since its spin-off from Theravance, Inc. (renamed Innoviva, Inc. in January 2016) in June 2014. From October 2001 to August 2014, Mr. Winningham served as Chief Executive Officer of Theravance, Inc., where he also served as Chairman of the board of directors from April 2010 to October 2014. From 1997 to 2001 he served as President, Bristol-Myers Squibb Oncology/Immunology/Oncology Therapeutics Network (“OTN”) and also as President of Global Marketing from 2000 to 2001. In addition to operating responsibility for U.S. Oncology/Immunology/OTN at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mr. Winningham also had full responsibility for Global Marketing in the Cardiovascular, Infectious Disease, Immunology, Oncology/Metabolics and GU/GI/Neuroscience therapeutic areas. Over a fifteen‑year period beginning in 1986 with BMS and its predecessor, Bristol‑Myers, Mr. Winningham held various U.S. and global management positions.

Mr. Winningham served as a Director on the board of directors of the California Healthcare Institute (“CHI”) from November 2011 to March 2015. He was elected Chairman of CHI in January 2014, a position he held until CHI merged with Baybio to become the California Life Sciences Association (“CLSA”) in March 2015. Mr. Winningham was subsequently elected to the role of Chairman of CLSA in March 2015. He stepped down from the CLSA position in November 2015. He is a member of the board of directors of Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc, and a member of the board of directors of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Winningham is a member of Biotechnology Industry Organization’s board of directors and served on the Health Section Governing Board Standing Committee on Reimbursement. Mr. Winningham holds an M.B.A. from Texas Christian University and a B.S. degree from Southern Illinois University.

ADAM LEVY

DIRECTOR AND STRATEGIC ADVISOR 

Mr. Levy has served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of Mineralys Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing medicines to target hypertension, chronic kidney disease and other diseases driven by abnormally elevated aldosterone since March 2022. Prior to Mineralys, he served as the CFO at Sanifit Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on treatments for vascular calcification disorders, until it was acquired by Vifor Pharma in January 2022. Prior to Sanifit, he served as the Chief Business Officer at Brickell Biotech, where he led the organization's financial operations transition as it became a publicly listed company on the Nasdaq. Before joining Brickell, Adam was the Chief Business Officer at miRagen Therapeutics, Inc., where he had broad operational responsibilities and led several business development transactions and capital raises, including a listing on the Nasdaq. Previous to his executive roles in biopharmaceuticals, Adam held multiple investment banking positions at Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Jefferies and Wedbush. During his time as an investment banker, he completed over $30 billion in financing and M&A transactions for his clients.  Mr. Levy received a B.S. in Business Management and Marketing from Cornell University.

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY TEAM

Valentino Stella, PhD

Professor Stella is recognized as a  “giant in pharmaceutical chemistry” and one of the leading prodrug experts in the world. He is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy, and founder of three Kansas companies: Cydex Pharma, Crititech, and ProQuest Pharma. He is the inventor or co-inventor of the drugs fosphenytoin (Cerebyx®), Viread®, Lusedra® and Captisol® , the solubilizer used in the injectable forms of Vfend®, Geodon®, Abilify®, Nexterone® and the veterinary product Cerenia®, and he helped formulate the novel anticancer drug Velcade®. 

William Z. Potter, MD PhD

Dr. Potter is a renowned neuropsychiatric drug development expert. Dr. Potter is currently a Senior Advisor in Neuropsychiatry at NIMH. Previously, Dr. Potter was Vice President of Translational Neuroscience at Merck and, before that, Head of Early Clinical Development at Eli Lilly. Prior to working in the pharmaceutical industry, he had a distinguished career at the National Institutes of Health, primarily at NIMH. Dr. Potter was one of the early architects of the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, and he continues as an active participant on the Industry Strategic Advisory Board. He is co-chair Emeritus of the NIH Biomarkers Consortium Neuroscience Steering Committee. In addition, he serves on the Institute of Medicine Forum on Neuroscience. Dr. Potter has authored over 250 publications in neuroscience. 

Ron Bihovsky, PhD

Dr. Bihovsky has over 35 years of hands-on and managerial experience in organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry research in the pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology, and academia. He is currently president of Key Synthesis LLC, a custom organic synthesis and consulting company which he founded in 2001. Dr. Bihovsky has 50 publications and 15 US patents. Dr. Bihovsky has a strong background in organic synthesis. He has synthesized compounds of every type, including heterocycles, carbocycles, steroids and peptides. He has expertise in medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, and patent law.