Board of Directors

Remy Luthringer, PhD

Dr. Remy Luthringer was named Executive Chairman of the Board on February 5, 2018 and has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. since November 2014. He has been involved in the development of more than 150 active molecules for clinical trials in the central nervous system. Dr. Luthringer is an Advisor at Medicxi Ventures, formerly Index Ventures, a venture capital firm comprising all of the life sciences portfolio companies, funds and team from Index Ventures. Previously, he served as Chief Medical Officer for Index Ventures, with a focus on investments in healthcare infrastructure. He was also the head of the FORENAP Institute for Research in Neurosciences and Neuropsychiatry in France. Dr. Luthringer has extensive experience in clinical psychiatric practice and holds a PhD in neurosciences and clinical pharmacology.

Hans Peter Hasler

Hans Peter Hasler has served on our Board Since December, 2017. Mr. Hasler was the Chief Executive Officer of Vicarius Pharma AG, a privately held European Bio-Pharma company until 2020. His prior experiences include Elan Corporation, Dublin, where he was Chief Operating Officer, and Biogen Inc., Boston, where his positions included Chief Operating Officer, and EVP, Head of Global Neurology and International.

Previously, Mr. Hasler was at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Radnor/PA, as Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer and beforehand Managing Director of Wyeth Group Germany, Münster. Mr. Hasler is Chairman of the Board of HBM Healthcare Investments AG in Switzerland (SIX), Chairman of the Board of Shield Therapeutics, London (AIM), and a Director of Gain Therapeutics (Nasdaq). He holds a Federal Swiss Commercial Diploma and a Marketing Manager Certificate from the Swiss Institute of Business Economy SIB, Zurich.

Jan van Heek

Jan van Heek has served on our Board since July 2014. Mr. van Heek advises biotechnology and other healthcare companies in commercial strategy development, financing and business development. He was previously a partner at BioPoint Group, a biotech consulting company. Prior to establishing BioPoint in 2009, Mr. van Heek spent over 18 years at Genzyme Corporation, a Sanofi pharmaceutical company, including as an Executive Vice President and Senior Advisor to the chief executive officer. Mr. van Heek also previously served as a board member and chairman of the Audit Committee of Amarin Corporation, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company. He was also a board member and chairman of the Audit Committee of ViaCell Corporation, a public company, from 2002 until it was sold to Perkin Elmer Corporation in 2007. He received an MBA from St. Gallen University in Switzerland and an executive degree from Stanford Business School.

Jeryl Hilleman

Jeri Hilleman joined our Board in July 2018. She brings extensive experience in life sciences and served as a public company CFO for close to 20 years. Most recently, from June 2014 to November 2019, Ms. Hilleman served as Chief Financial Officer of Intersect ENT (Nasdaq: XENT), a commercial drug delivery company focusing on patients with ear, nose and throat conditions. Prior to Intersect ENT, Ms. Hilleman served as Chief Financial Officer of other public healthcare companies including Ocera Therapeutics, Inc. (subsequently acquired by Mallinckrodt plc), a biopharmaceutical company, Amyris, Inc., a renewable products company, and Symyx Technologies (subsequently acquired by Accelrys, Inc.), a life sciences automation company. Ms. Hilleman has served as a member of the board of directors and chair of the audit committee of NovoCure, Limited since July, 2018 and of SI-Bone since December 2019. Previously, Ms. Hilleman served as a member of the board of directors and chair of the audit committee of Xenoport, Inc., a publicly-held biopharmaceutical company, from 2005 until it was acquired in 2016. Ms. Hilleman received a B.A. in History from Brown University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

David Kupfer, MD

Dr. Kupfer joined our Board in November 2015. He is an international leader in psychiatry who has authored more than 1,100 articles, books and book chapters. Dr. Kupfer chaired the American Psychiatric Association Task Force for the development of the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which defines the criteria for the diagnosis and classification of mental disorders. Dr. Kupfer received his M.D. from Yale University in 1965. He is Distinguished Professor emeritus of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. As director of research at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC), Dr. Kupfer helped establish WPIC as one of the nation’s preeminent university-based psychiatric research centers. He is founding president of the International Society of Bipolar Disorders and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 1990.

Fouzia Laghrissi-Thode, MD

Dr. Fouzia Laghrissi-Thode has served on our Board since May 2015. Dr. Laghrissi-Thode has held positions of leadership at AstraZeneca, Roche, Novartis and Sandoz in a broad range of therapeutic areas, including central nervous system, cardiovascular, metabolic disease and genito-urinary health. She serves on the board of directors of Cellaion, Nuro Corp., Smart Immune as well as DalCor Pharmaceuticals, where she is currently Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining DalCor, Dr. Laghrissi-Thode served as U.S. Vice President for the renal-cardio therapy area at AstraZeneca, Head of the South San Francisco site, and the chief executive officer of ZS Pharma, Inc. She was formerly vice president of the cardiovascular and metabolism therapy area at AstraZeneca. Dr. Laghrissi-Thode holds an M.D. from the University of Tours School of Medicine in France, is board certified in psychiatry and was an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh.