Lisa Ricciardi
Chief Executive Officer​
Ms. Ricciardi joined Cognition Therapeutics in March 2019 as a member of the Board of Directors. She was appointed CEO in 2020 and led the company through its initial public offering. Her career experience includes drug development and commercialization, healthcare services and genomics. She has a proven track record launching large-market therapeutics as well as negotiating financial and business development agreements, from small to multi-billion-dollar deals.
Prior to her appointment as Cognition CEO, Ms. Ricciardi provided strategic counsel to biotech firms who were in the process of raising money. As senior vice president of business development at Foundation Medicine, she negotiated large-scale deals, such as the $1.03 billion transformational agreement with Roche and the acquisition of Medco by Express Scripts in 2011. At Pfizer Ms. Ricciardi was instrumental in launching major products including Norvasc, Zithromax, and Trovan, and later las SVP, led multiple global licensing efforts concentrating on international research and development and commercial partnerships.
Ms Ricciardi has served as a public company Director for public, private, US, International, precommercial and commercial Boards in the life science industry. Ms. Ricciardi earned a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in English and religion from Wesleyan University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Management.
Lisa Ricciardi
Anthony O. Caggiano, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Caggiano has broad experience in the development of new medicines for neurological conditions. During his 17 years at Acorda Therapeutics, the last four as senior vice president of research and development, Dr. Caggiano oversaw preclinical and clinical development programs in neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis, stroke and spinal cord injury. In addition, he directed a large team responsible for all aspects of early development through a combination of internal research efforts and external research collaborations. He built relationships with thought leaders, developed clinical trial strategies and participated in licensing activities.
Immediately prior to joining Cognition, Dr. Caggiano was chief medical officer and head of R&D for Neurotrauma Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company developing therapies to treat the effects of stroke and TBI. Earlier in his career, he served as acting president and chief medical officer of Constant Pharmaceuticals and Aeromics, Inc., clinical-stage companies respectively developing candidates for central nervous system disorders and cerebral edema following ischemic stroke.
Dr. Caggiano earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia in interdisciplinary studies, focusing on biology, chemistry and psychology. He earned his doctoral degree from the University of Chicago and his medical degree from the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine.
Anthony Caggiano, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer
John Doyle
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Doyle joined Cognition Therapeutics as chief financial officer in 2023. He has significant experience raising capital in challenging markets and leading companies through the evolution to commercialization. Most recently he was chief financial officer of 4D Pharma plc, and previously SVP and chief financial officer of Chiasma Inc. During his tenure at Chiasma Inc, the company began reporting commercial sales and ultimately completed a merger with Amryt Pharma. Earlier, he served in finance departments at Verastem Oncology, SimpliVity Corp., PAREXEL, Inc. and Hologic Inc. Mr. Doyle earned a Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Massachusetts.
John Doyle
Chief Financial Officer
Anita Cornet
Head of QualityÂ
Anita Cornet joined Cognition Therapeutics in 2024 as the head of quality. In this role, she will oversee process development, quality control and technical operations for Cognition’s pipeline products. She will work closely with the heads of CMC, clinical development and medical affairs to ensure that zervimesine (also CT1812) and the company’s other product candidates are manufactured within the standards of the U.S. FDA and other worldwide health authorities. Ms. Cornet previously held several positions of increasing seniority at Acorda Therapeutics, most recently VP of quality. Earlier in her career, she worked at Genta, a biotechnology company developing novel oncology treatments; and GlaxoWellcome, where she was responsible for quality assurance of products on the Belgium and Luxemburg market.
Ms. Cornet is a pharmacist with over 25 years of experience in quality assurance. She graduated from Ghent University in Belgium with a degree in pharmacy.
Anita Cornet
Head of Quality
Theresa Devins, DrPH
Vice President, Clinical Operations
Dr. Devins has over 25 years of clinical research experience, having conducted many global studies ranging from Phase 2 to Phase 4 across a variety of indications including complex neurological diseases. She has extensive expertise recruiting diverse populations in clinical trials through trusted external partnerships and innovative community and site engagement. At Cognition Therapeutics, Dr. Devins is responsible for the management of all current and planned clinical trials for lead candidate, zervimesine (also CT1812). To date she has overseen the completion of enrollment in the SHINE (COG0201) study in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease and SHIMMER (COG1201) study in mild-to-moderate dementia with Lewy bodies. Under her leadership, Cognition also initiated the Phase 2 MAGNIFY (COG2201) study in geographic atrophy secondary to dry age-related macular degeneration and Phase 2 START (COG0203) study in early Alzheimer’s Disease.
Previously, she was director of clinical operations at Eisai, Inc., where she focused on clinical trials for sleep disorders, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. She worked closely with the patient advocacy team to develop programs to drive study recruitment through cultural awareness and community engagement. Earlier in her career, she worked in clinical operations at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals.
Theresa Devins, DrPH
Bobby Horn
Corporate ControllerÂ
Bobby Horn joined Cognition Therapeutics in 2022 as associate controller and was promoted in 2023 to corporate controller. In his current role, he is responsible for maintaining the company’s compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley, overseeing financial planning and risk management across the business, and developing and maintaining accounting policies. Prior to joining Cognition, Mr. Horn held several positions of increasing responsibility in the assurance practice at EY from 2014 to 2022. In these roles, he assisted client companies including biotechnology firms Biohaven Pharmaceuticals and Cara Therapeutics, in the preparation of financial statements, evaluated the effectiveness of client internal controls, and oversaw financial audits.
Mr. Horn attended Pace University and earned a dual MBA/BBA degree in accounting from the Lubin School of Business in 2014, where he was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, an international business honor society. He is a certified public accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Bobby Horn
Corporate Controller
Jennifer Iaci
Vice President, Development Operations
Jennifer Iaci is the vice president of development operations for Cognition Therapeutics. Ms. Iaci has more than two decades of therapeutic drug development experience with multiple therapeutic modalities across neurological and cardiological indications. Prior to joining Cognition, Ms. Iaci worked at Acorda Therapeutics and Ovid Therapeutics where she led development efforts to characterize drug candidates’ mechanisms of action, pharmacology and efficacy. At Cognition Therapeutics, Ms. Iaci works closely with the clinical operations and medical teams to execute the development strategy for advancing zervimesine (also CT1812), Cognition’s lead candidate for the treatment of degenerative disorders.
Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University in biology and her Masters of Science in biotechnology from William Patterson University. She has authored peer-reviewed scientific papers in neuro-injury, recovery and cardiovascular disease, and is a co-inventor on multiple technologies.
Jennifer Iaci
David Weinstein
Vice President, Clinical DevelopmentÂ
David Weissman, MD, PhD is the vice president of clinical development for Cognition Therapeutics. During his career, Dr. Weinstein has held leadership positions at Entrada Therapeutics, ML BioSolutions, Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Acadia Pharmaceuticals and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. In these roles, he has overseen cross-functional development teams, designed clinical strategy, interacted with regulators in the US and abroad, and evaluated strategic alliances.Â
Before joining industry, Dr. Weinstein held faculty positions at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In this role, he diagnosed and treated patients with neurological conditions and served as an investigator in clinical trials. Â
Dr. Weinstein earned his doctoral and medical degrees from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed his residency in neurology at Columbia University.
David Weinstein, MD, PhD
Vice President,
Clinical Development
Steven A. Weissman, Ph.D.
Vice President and Head of CMC
Dr. Weissman serves as Cognition Therapeutics’ vice president and head of chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC). In this role, he is responsible for the process development and manufacturing oversight for Cognition’s lead candidate, zervimesine (also CT1812). Before joining Cognition Therapeutics, Dr. Weissman was the director of chemical development at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for clinical supply and eventual global commercial manufacturing of telotristat etiprate. Earlier, he was director of process chemistry at J-Star Research and Concert Pharmaceuticals. During his tenure at Merck in manufacturing and process research roles, Dr. Weissman developed scalable chemical routes for over 30 clinical candidates and contributed to the commercial manufacturing routes of approved HIV therapies, Isentress and Crixivan.
Dr. Weissman has co-authored 32 peer-reviewed research articles in scientific journals and is an inventor on 13 U.S. patents. In addition, he was a member of the editorial advisory board for the ACS journal, Organic Process Research & Development. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from the University of Vermont and a Doctor of Philosophy in chemistry from Tufts University. He conducted his post-doctoral training under Nobel laureate, Herbert C. Brown, at Purdue University.