CODA Biotherapeutics, Inc., a US-based preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced on Tuesday that it has named Susan Catalano, PhD as its new chief scientific officer.

Since joining CODA Dr Catalano has served as a member of the board of directors, co-founder of the company, and architect of its discovery, preclinical, and clinical science at Cognition Therapeutics. She has over two decades of experience heading discovery and development functions and clinical development projects for multiple therapies in central nervous system and oncology.

Dr Catalano has previously served in scientific leadership positions at Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Rigel Pharmaceuticals, and Roche Palo Alto s well as holding an adjunct appointment at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Additionally Dr Catalano has authored various publications and patents and served as principal investigator of several National Institutes of Health (NIH) preclinical and clinical grant awards. She has also served on various NIH review panels in the areas of drug discovery and clinical development for neurodegenerative diseases and is an EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women class of 2015 recipient.

Michael Narachi, CODA president and CEO, said, 'We are thrilled to have Susan join CODA in this critical role at this pivotal time as we build out and progress our chemogenetic platform and development pipeline. With Susan's depth and breadth of discovery, leadership prowess, and preclinical and clinical science experience, she will be instrumental in helping us fulfil our mission to develop revolutionary chemogenetic therapies for patients with intractable neurological disorders. We are very proud to have her on the CODA team.'