Our Leadership

Nancy Stagliano is fascinated by how the brain works. “Of all parts of the body, to me it is the most interesting and the most complex,” she explains. “I think the brain is the final frontier.”

Nancy has always been driven by her love of science and medicine, receiving a PhD in neuroscience, and degrees in both biomedical and electrical engineering, followed by a postdoc at Harvard Medical School. She holds numerous patents and published works in respected journals.

Previously, she has served as CEO of three successful companies—True North Therapeutics, iPierian, and CytomX Therapeutics. Nancy is passionate about building high performing teams dedicated to finding new therapies that make a difference for patients. “Success to me is defined by getting a therapeutic to patients,” she says. “I think my crowning career achievement to-date is the work I did with True North.” True North’s drug, Enjaymo (Sutimlimab), now in the hands of Sanofi, recently won FDA approval for the treatment of cold agglutinin disease, a rare condition in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys its own red blood cells.”

As the CEO and chair at Neuron23, Nancy takes a hands-on approach to building the company, following the science, and mentoring the team. In addition to her commitment to Neuron23, Nancy serves as chair of the board of three biotechnology companies: Sundance Biosciences, Star Therapeutics and Electra Therapeutics. Nancy is active in philanthropy and is a board member of the not-for-profit organization PanCAN, having lost her mother and uncle to pancreatic cancer.

Nancy was previously involved as an advisor to Westlake Village BioPartners and New Leaf Venture Partners.

Arash Rassoulpour serves as Chief Operating Officer at Neuron23, providing critical program and operational leadership for NEU-411, the company’s best-in-class Phase 2 LRRK2 inhibitor. Arash is an experienced drug developer and operational leader with over 15 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Neuron23, he served as Executive Director and General Manager at Charles River Laboratories (CRL) where he served as the South San Francisco Site Head, was responsible for the company’s CNS strategy, and served as a member of the Discovery leadership team.

Before becoming part of CRL, Arash served as Head of US Operations/Partner of Brains On-Line where he was responsible for the expansion and eventual acquisition by CRL. Arash started his industry career as Senior Scientist in the Neuroscience group at Amgen where he led several neuroscience programs in psychiatry, including a program that eventually entered clinical trials. Arash holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Maryland.

Karen Lam joined Neuron23 in March 2021 and serves as the SVP, Finance and Corporate Controller. Karen brings over 20 years of financial and leadership experience, from privately held and publicly held companies within the healthcare sector. Prior to Neuron23, Karen served as Vice President, Finance and Chief Accounting Officer of RAPT Therapeutics, Inc., where she managed finance, IT and facilities and played a key role in transforming RAPT from a private, preclinical company to a publicly-held clinical stage biotech company.

Previously, she served as Senior Director, Controller of True North Therapeutics, Inc and Director, Controller at iPierian Inc., a development stage biotechnology company where she played a critical role in building both company’s financial operations. She started her career at Ernst & Young LLP and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from San Francisco State University. Ms. Lam is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).

Luc Desnoyers serves as the Senior Vice President of Translational Research and Companion Diagnostics at Neuron23. His focus is on leading the biomarker and diagnostics efforts to move programs from the late-stage research through to clinical proof of concept. He is passionate about innovation and the development of novel strategies to define the right dose and identify the right patients.

Dr. Desnoyers has spent more than two decades in the biopharmaceutical industry, with a proven track record in platforms innovation, fundamental research and therapeutics development with companion diagnostics.

Prior to joining Neuron23, Dr. Desnoyers spent 9 years at CytomX Therapeutics, where he held roles of increasing responsibility. Most recently, Dr. Desnoyers served as Vice-President of Translational Sciences, during which he established and led the biomarker group accountable for biomarker and diagnostics strategies for all clinical programs. Dr. Desnoyers was instrumental in the development of the Probody and drug conjugate platforms, the initiation of multiple discovery initiatives and their transition into clinical programs. He has 1669 patents and 21 top-tier publications to his name.

Before joining CytomX, Dr. Desnoyers spent 14 years at Genentech working in multiple therapeutic areas and occupying different roles from early discovery to oncology biomarker for clinical development. Dr. Desnoyers completed his post-doctoral fellow at UT Southwestern Medical Center with Drs Brown and Goldstein and holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from University of Montreal.

Suresh Dheerendra serves as the Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations at Neuron23. Suresh is a seasoned clinical operations leader with over 20 years of global clinical development experience across several established biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including: Genentech, Lundbeck, Takeda, and Abbott/AbbVie. He has led programs across a variety of therapeutic areas in all phases of development.

Prior to joining Neuron23, Suresh was a Clinical Program Director at Genentech leading multiple programs from entry into the clinic to late stage development. Suresh holds a BS degree in Biology, (Plant Genetics), from Northern Illinois University and a MS degree in Health Care Administration from DePaul University.

Tom DeMelfi serves as the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality at Neuron23. Tom is a seasoned leader with over 32 years of combined experience in Global Regulatory Affairs, Business Development, and Research across small and large biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including Aadi Bioscience, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Atara Biotherapeutics, Amgen, and SmithKline Beecham.

Tom has a robust background in global regulatory strategy leading successful projects from discovery through development and authorization across multiple therapeutic areas and modalities. He leverages his business development and research expertise as an Advisory Board Member at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles where the board evaluates research projects seeking intramural funding.

Tom obtained his MS degree in Microbiology from Thomas Jefferson University and a BS degree in Biology from Bloomsburg University.

Fatta Nahab serves as the Vice President of Clinical and Digital Development at Neuron23. He is a board-certified Neurologist and Movement Disorders specialist with over 20 years of experience bridging clinical development needs with technological advancements in digital health technologies.

Dr. Nahab spent the first 15 years of his career in academia, caring for patients, leading novel clinical trials, and doing research using advanced imaging techniques and digital health technologies. Prior to joining Neuron23, Dr. Nahab served as the Head of Movement Disorders Science at Biogen Digital Health. At Neuron23, Dr. Nahab leads the LRRK2-inhibitor Phase-2 clinical development program of a disease-modifying therapy (NEU-411) for Parkinson’s disease.

Ryan Dixon serves as the Senior Director, Human Resources at Neuron23. He is passionate about innovation in HR practices and developing ways to expand access and equity to growth and development opportunities at work. Ryan has spent two decades in the field of HR with a proven track record of designing and scaling a wide range of HR programs.

Prior to joining Neuron23, Ryan led Global Talent Management at Moderna. Ryan started in biotech leading the Talent Management, Organization Effectiveness, and Culture function at Biogen. Ryan worked as a management consultant for 15 years serving a wide range of organizations around the world. He played a key role in developing methodologies and tools in organization design, performance management, and talent management. He began his career consulting on employee pay and executive compensation. Ryan earned a bachelor’s degree in management from Providence College and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Andrew Yost is currently a strategic advisor to Neuron23 and the CEO of Sundance Biosciences. He previously served as Chief Business Officer (CBO) of Neuron23. Prior to joining Neuron23, Andrew served as CBO at TenSixteen Bio and SVP of Corporate Development at REGENXBIO.

Earlier in his career, Andrew served on the healthcare investment banking team at JP Morgan where he advised on over $25 billion in M&A and equity/equity-linked transactions and was a management consultant in the healthcare group at PRTM (now Strategy&, a part of PwC). Andrew holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS in biological engineering from Cornell University.