Leadership Team

Frederick Ryckman, MD

President and Chief Executive Officer

Fred previously served as Professor of Surgery at University of Cincinnati Medical School (Emeritus). He practiced for 35 years as a Pediatric Surgeon / Transplant Surgeon along with non-clinical leadership roles to include Sr. Vice President for Medical Operations as well as interim Chief Operating Officer at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He has authored over 135 medical publications and 45 book chapters. He has consulted globally on his specialty and continues to teach Hospital Quality and Safety with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Robert Bratzler, PhD

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Bob has helped build, lead and grow 4 healthcare companies from inception to successful IPO’s on NASDAQ (Sepracor, Coley Pharmaceuticals, ChiRex, and Selecta Biosciences). He was co-founder of Sepracor which was acquired by Sumitomo Pharma (previously Sunovion Pharmaceuticals). He is an experienced biotech executive with numerous advisory roles to healthcare start-up companies. He is trained in chemical engineering receiving his PhD from MIT.

Mahan Chehrenama, D.O.

CMO and Head of R & D

Mahan serves as Chief Medical Officer and Head of R & D at Manistee Therapeutics. She has 8 years of biotech & pharmaceutical experience spanning across all phases of development as well as medical affairs, and over 20 years of patient care, teaching and research experience as a neurologist, headache sub-specialist and principal investigator. Her time in industry has been dedicated predominantly to the migraine therapeutic area along with other CNS disorders. Before joining Manistee Therapeutics in 2022, she held positions at Amgen , Revance Therapeutics, and Avanir Pharmaceuticals. Mahan obtained her Doctor of Osteopathy from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed residency and fellowship at the University of Maryland Medical Systems. She is also a Fellow of the American Headache Society.

Advisors

Richard Lipton, MD

Richard is the Edwin S. Lowe Professor and Vice Chair of Neurology, Professor of Epidemiology and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he also directs the Montefiore Headache Center. Dr. Lipton’s headache research focuses on the epidemiology of migraine and on clinical trials. His epidemiologic studies have evaluated risk factors for headache onset and progression, comorbidities, and barriers to care. He is a six-time winner of the H.G. Wolff Award and a two-time winner of the Greppi Award for excellence in headache research. He is a Past-President of the AHS

Marcelo Bigal, MD, PhD

Marcelo is the President and CEO of Ventus Therapeutics, and has extensive experience in neurology. He has published over 330 peer-reviewed papers in the field of neurology, as well as five books. He has been recognized by the American Academy of Neurology with the Harold G. Wolff Award for excellence in research in neurology. Marcelo has over 15 years of pharmaceutical experience spanning R&D, medical affairs, and scientific affairs. Prior to Ventus, he was CMO and CSO at Teva Pharmaceuticals, leading the team that developed fremanezumab (Ajovy) for several forms of migraine, as well as deutetrabenazine (Austedo) for the treatment of Huntington’s disease and Tardive Dyskinesia, as well as other medicines in neurology, psychiatry, pain, and respiratory diseases approved in the US, Canada, and EU. Prior to his work in the pharmaceutical industry, Marcelo was a faculty member at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Department of Neurology, as well as the Director of Research at New England Center for Headache and Director of Research at Montefiore Headache Center

Egilius Spierings, MD, PhD

Giel is a pharmacologist, neurologist, headache and face pain specialist, and clinical trialist. He is currently the medical director of the Greater Boston Headache Center and MedVadis Research at Boston Advanced Medicine in Waltham, Massachusetts. Until his academic retirement in 2018, he was a clinical professor of neurology and craniofacial pain at Tufts University Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been involved in migraine research since being a medical student, and conducted clinical trials as the principal investigator since 1980. His research work has contributed to the development of every migraine medication, abortive and preventive, that has gained market approval. He became a neurologist in 1986 with dedicated care of those with headache and facial pain. He has lectured extensively around the globe, organized two dozen symposia, and published over 300 scientific works, including ten books. He described hemicrania continua as an indomethacin-responsive headache syndrome, developed the high-dose verapamil treatment of cluster headache, described the parallel theory of migraine pathogenesis, and coined the term systemic endocrine-metabolic syndrome (SEMS) for the medical comorbidities of chronic migraine.

Jefferey Heier, MD

Jeff is the Director of the Retina Service and Director of Retina Research at Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston (OCB), one of the largest multi-specialty ophthalmology practices in the United States. Dr. Heier served as Co-President & Medical Director from 2016-2020. He is also the Chief Scientific Officer at Ocular Therapeutix. Dr. Heier is the Past President of the Retina Society, a former member of the Executive Committee of the American Society of Retina Specialists, the Past President of the New England Ophthalmological Society, and a member of the Macula Society. He is one of the leading retinal clinical researchers in the country for new treatments in exudative and non-exudative macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, venous occlusive disease, vitreoretinal surgical techniques and instrumentation, and diagnostic imaging of the retina. He is a scientific advisor to many biotechnical or pharmaceutical companies, lectures nationally and internationally, and has authored numerous, peer-reviewed works. Dr. Heier received his medical degree from Boston University, completed an internship and residency at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, and vitreoretinal fellowship at OCB/Tufts School of Medicine. He served as a physician in a Combat Support Hospital in the Persian Gulf War, where he was awarded a Bronze Star.

Bradford J. Shingleton, MD

Brad was a member of the Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston (OCB) and associate clinical professor at Harvard Medical School (retired). He is a past President of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and recipient of Honor Award, Senior Achievement Award, and Lifetime Member from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He is the author of over 100 scientific publications including senior editor of the textbook Eye Trauma and Handbook of Eye Emergencies. He was past team Ophthalmologist for the Boston Bruins, Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots and New England Revolution.

Our Team