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The Lucy Therapeutics team is relentlessly curious. We advance science and our company by embracing creativity and flexibility to achieve exceptional results in everything we do. Our diverse expertise from basic science to business is nurtured by our inclusive, equitable and compassionate culture.

Lucy Team

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Board of Directors

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Scientific Advisory Boards

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Investors

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Amy Ripka, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer

Amy has over 20 years of drug discovery experience and was involved in the discovery of two marketed drugs (Daklinza® and Sunvepra®). She has participated in 5 biotech INDs and has more than 30 issued patents. She has held VP and Executive Director positions at prominent CROs. Amy has chaired the prestigious Medicinal Chemistry Gordon Conference and currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Q Biomed Ventures, Caraway Therapeutics and Medtronic

Amy Ripka, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer

Bryan Keaney

Chief Financial Officer

Bryan is a financial executive with over 25 years of experience managing biotechnology companies from the start-up phase through periods of rapid growth into complex publicly traded entities. He is experienced in building systems and infrastructure, successful at fundraising, and was instrumental in three successful IPOs. Bryan has served in senior roles at CombinatoRx, Synta Pharmaceuticals, Shionogi Bioresearch, and held management roles at Genzyme Corporation and Hybritech.

Bryan Keaney

Chief Financial Officer

Nerissa Kreher, MD

Chief Medical Officer

Nerissa Kreher, MD

Chief Medical Officer

Allen Hopper, Ph.D.

Vice President, Drug Discovery

Allen brings his extensive drug discovery research expertise to Lucy Therapeutics, having most recently served as Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Remix Therapeutics and Director of Exploratory Research at Sage Therapeutics. He held senior positions at Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, Lundbeck and Memory Pharmaceuticals, moving drugs from early metabolism and PK studies to regulatory filings as promising INDs.

Allen Hopper, Ph.D.

Vice President, Drug Discovery

Danielle Blackwell

Director of Pharmacology

Danielle is an experienced scientific leader in small molecule drug discovery with over 15 years in the biotech industry. She has led preclinical programs and supported projects from early discovery through candidate selection across therapeutic areas like oncology, inflammation, and neurodegeneration. Most recently, she worked at Ribon Therapeutics as Associate Director of Cellular and Biological Assay Development.

Danielle Blackwell

Director of Pharmacology

Jessica Garrant

Sr. Director, Operations

Jessica brings over 16 years of Human Resources expertise and a senior-level certification from the Society for Human Resources Management to her role at Lucy Therapeutics. In addition to her experience in various industries, she has spent over six years specializing in the development of the HR function and overall operational alignment within start-up organizations.

Jessica Garrant

Sr. Director, Operations

Ashvarya Jain

Sr. Accounting Manager

Ash brings over 10 years of diverse accounting experience to her role as Senior Accounting Manager. Her expertise spans operational accounting, financial reporting, systems implementation, and serving as a strong business partner across multiple departments. With her analytical mindset, adaptability, and blend of technical and soft skills, Ash ensures the accuracy and timeliness of our financial operations.

Ashvarya Jain

Sr. Accounting Manager

Robin Grammer

Operations Manager

Robin is an Operations professional specializing in uniting scientific goals with administrative duties. She draws on past supervisory and laboratory experience to ensure smooth daily operations. Before joining Lucy, Robin spent over 15 years in the Veterinary field as a Certified Veterinary Technician, throughout which she co-authored and published two peer-reviewed articles.

Robin Grammer

Operations Manager

Vera Procaccia, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist

Vera brings more than 15 years of experience in academic and industrial biomedical research to her role at Lucy Therapeutics. Her research expertise ranges across fields such as cancer, metabolic diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and neuroscience. Vera holds a doctorate degree in Molecular Pharmacology from the University of Pittsburgh and served as a Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the Computational Biology Department before joining Lucy.

Vera Procaccia, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist

Yipeng Du, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist

Yipeng brings over 10 years experience in the field of mitochondrial research to Lucy Therapeutics. He has published over 16 peer-reviewed articles and has centered his work on how mitochondria is linked to metabolic diseases. Yipeng is focusing on developing a series of mitochondrial platforms for drug screening.

Yipeng Du, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist

Eric Danielson, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist

Eric Danielson is a seasoned molecular and cellular neuroscientist with over 15 years of experience in academic and industrial research. He specializes in neurodegenerative disorders and has a strong background in preclinical assay development. Eric holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the Medical College of Wisconsin. His expertise spans various techniques such as microscopy, biochemistry, and electrophysiology.

Eric Danielson, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist

Minevere Sinani

Associate Scientist

Minevere is an Associate Scientist at Lucy Therapeutics, where she leads the day-to-day cell culture activities in the lab. She has focused her 25+ year career on cell culture in multiple disease models such as Cancer, Cystic Fibrosis, Alzheimer’s, Huntington's disease, and Parkinson’s disease.

Minevere Sinani

Associate Scientist

Amy Ripka, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer

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Amy Ripka, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer

Designer

Kim Drapkin

Board Chair

Kim Drapkin has over 25 years of experience working with private and publicly traded biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including building and leading finance functions, raising capital, and leading strategic financial planning. Most recently, Ms. Drapkin served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Graphite Bio, a gene editing company until she executed a successful merger with LENZ Therapeutics. Previously, Ms. Drapkin was Chief Financial Officer at Jounce Therapeutics since its inception, playing a key role in building Jounce’s financial infrastructure helping to secure $600M in financing. Prior to joining Jounce, Ms. Drapkin owned a financial consulting firm where she served as the interim chief financial officer for numerous early-stage biotechnology companies. Previously, she was chief financial officer at EPIX Pharmaceuticals and also spent ten years in roles of increasing responsibility within the finance organization at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Her career began in the technology and life sciences practice at PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP.

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Kim Drapkin

Board Chair

Designer

John Ripple

Director

John advises biotech CEOs on strategy, team building, business development and capital fundraising activities. He previously served as CEO of several venture-backed biotech companies, including Exonics Therapeutics (acquired by Vertex), Virdante Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Momenta), and Syntonix Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Biogen). He started his career as an aerospace engineer at NASA. He currently serves on the Board of Overseers at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, and as an advisor to the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation.John received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

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John Ripple

Director

Designer

Ed Freedman, JD

Director

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Ed Freedman, JD

Director

Designer

Mike Poole, MD

Director

Dr. Poole currently serves as an advisor to Gates Ventures. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Ovid Therapeutics, Inc. (OVID), MMS Holdings and for other venture-funded biotechnology companies. Previously, Dr. Poole led external investments in the Office of the President for Global Health at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, Dr. Poole served as Vice President and head of Neuroscience Innovation at AstraZeneca. He also served as Chief Medical Officer for Link Medicine and Hypnion, and was Vice President of Neuroscience Development at Wyeth and Pfizer. Dr. Poole earned his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley and his medical degree from the UC San Diego School of Medicine. He is board certified in internal medicine, having trained at Strong Memorial Hospital at the University of Rochester. He also is board-certified in adult neurology, completing his post-graduate training in neurology at the University of Michigan.

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Mike Poole, MD

Director

Designer

David Rotella, Ph.D.

Drug Discovery Advisory Board

David is the Sokol Professor of Chemistry at Montclair State University where his NIH funded laboratory is actively engaged in drug discovery for CNS and parasitic disease. While in the pharmaceutical industry at Cephalon, Bristol Myers, and Wyeth he participated in and led programs in a variety of therapeutic areas that provided four clinical candidates for CNS, metabolic and cardiovascular disease.

David Rotella, Ph.D.

Drug Discovery Advisory Board

Designer

Joanne Bronson, Ph.D.

Drug Discovery Advisory Board

Joanne has over 35 years of experience in drug discovery. During her career at Bristol-Myers Squibb, she has led programs and teams in several therapeutic areas, including Neuroscience, Fibrosis, and Infectious Diseases. She is the author of > 120 scientific papers and an inventor on > 40 issued patents/patent applications. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Medicinal Chemistry Reviews (ACS MEDI). Joanne received her Ph.D. from MIT in Organic Chemistry.

Joanne Bronson, Ph.D.

Drug Discovery Advisory Board

Designer

John Macor, Ph.D.

Drug Discovery Advisory Board

John is the Chief Scientific Officer at Sionna Therapeutics. He has more than 35 years of drug discovery experience in big pharma with 25 years in CNS. Before Sionna, John was the Global Head of Integrated Drug Discovery at Sanofi. John is co-inventor of four marketed drugs (Relpax®, Nurtec®, Zavzpret®, and Filspari®), with numerous other compounds still active in clinical trials. John was the Chair of the MEDI Division of the ACS in 2015 and was inducted into the ACS MEDI Hall of Fame in 2014.

John Macor, Ph.D.

Drug Discovery Advisory Board

Designer

James Summers, Ph.D.

Drug Discovery Advisory Board

Jim has over 30 years of drug discovery and research management experience. He currently serves on the board of directors, scientific advisory board and as an advisor to several biotechnology companies and venture capital firms. Previously, Jim was Vice President of Neuroscience Research at AbbVie, where he led global efforts focused on the discovery of new drugs for neurodegenerative diseases. Under his leadership more than twenty drugs entered clinical development.

James Summers, Ph.D.

Drug Discovery Advisory Board

Designer

Prof. Nelli Mnatsakanyan, Ph.D.

Mitochondrial Advisory Board

Nelli is an Associate Professor at Penn State University College of Medicine, where her research focuses on investigating the molecular identity, structure, and function of the enigmatic cell death channel, the mitochondrial permeability transition pore, and its role in Alzheimer's disease. She is the recipient of the Biophysical Society Young Bioenergetics award and a Career Development award from the National Institute on Aging.

Prof. Nelli Mnatsakanyan, Ph.D.

Mitochondrial Advisory Board

Designer

Prof. Laurie Sanders, Ph.D.

Mitochondrial Advisory Board

Laurie is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Duke University School of Medicine, where her research is focused on understanding pathogenic mitochondrial disease mechanisms and developing novel biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases. She was the single recipient of the William N. & Bernice E. Bumpus Foundation award in 2015. Recently she was named the 2020 Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society Young Scientist.

Prof. Laurie Sanders, Ph.D.

Mitochondrial Advisory Board

Designer

Peter Lansbury, Ph.D.

Peter Lansbury, Ph.D. I Mitochondrial Advisory Board

Peter is a world expert in preclinical assay development and translational strategies for probing neurodegenerative phenotypes including Parkinson's Disease. He is currently Chief Scientific Officer of Bial Therapeutics. Previously, Peter was the CSO at Lysosomal Therapeutics and Founder at Link Medicine both which had a focus on mitochondrial life cycle/dysfunction. Peter was also a Founder of Laboratory of Drug Discovery in Neurodegeneration at Brigham & Women’s and Harvard Medical School.

Peter Lansbury, Ph.D.

Peter Lansbury, Ph.D. I Mitochondrial Advisory Board

Designer

Prof. Giovanni Manfredi, MD, Ph.D.

Mitochondrial Advisory Board

Giovanni is an internationally renowned mitochondrial expert who has made seminal contributions to the understanding of the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of mitochondrial dysfunction in neuro-degenerative diseases. Giovanni is a Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medicine, in New York City, where his research focuses on target discovery for bioenergetic and mitochondrial dysfunction in ALS and primary mitochondrial diseases.

Prof. Giovanni Manfredi, MD, Ph.D.

Mitochondrial Advisory Board

Designer