Austin Chen is the Senior Vice President & Head of Research at Contineum Therapeutics. Prior to joining Contineum, Austin was an executive director at Inception Sciences where he and his team, often in partnership with external pharma partners, designed and synthesized compounds to address unmet medical needs in the field of oncology, ophthalmology, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. Five of these programs have since been acquired or successfully spun-out. Prior to that, Austin began his medicinal chemistry career at Merck Frosst Research Laboratories, where he contributed to the delivery of four compounds (MK-8141, MK-1594, MK-6478, MK-8831) into clinical development. Austin received his doctorate degree under the supervision of Professor Cathleen Crudden (Queen’s University, Institute of Transformative Biomolecules in Nagoya) and conducted post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Professor Matthew Shair (Harvard University). In his spare time, Austin enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife Karen and learning new tricks from his dog Ellie. Austin loves the Red Sox, obsesses with the Patriots, and engages in an occasional (but ultimately unfulfilling) fling with the Habs.

Bev Dixon joined Contineum Therapeutics as a consultant in 2020 and as a full time employee in September 2023. As the Senior Director of Quality Assurance, she brings a broad range of Quality experience covering GMP, GCP and GLP areas. Her experience in this capacity comes primarily from her role as Director of Quality/Regulatory Affairs at Molecular Biosystems in San Diego, CA and subsequently as a consultant for a diverse group of small and large pharmaceutical companies requiring her expertise in Quality Management. She has supported non clinical and clinical development and approval of products in the United States, Canada, Mexico and a consolidated approval in the European Union. As a consultant, she has worked with primarily early-stage companies who were developing and sustaining their respective products with the support of an effective Quality Management System, appropriate for their stage of development.  Her areas of expertise include Computer Science, Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) Regulatory Affairs, Validation, Document Control, Quality Control and Quality Assurance. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Delaware and a Masters of Science Degree in Quality Assurance from California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Kristina Haeckl brings over 30 years of experience in global regulatory affairs in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry with demonstrated expertise working for companies with products in all phases of development.  In particular, Ms. Haeckl was involved in the key strategic discussions with EMA and FDA to establish current development pathways for antibiotics to fulfill the unmet medical need to address the emergence of infections due to resistant pathogens.  Throughout her career, Ms. Haeckl has prepared and submitted many INDs and CTAs in various therapeutic areas and worked on 13 NDAs and many Supplemental NDAs. 

Most recently, Ms. Haeckl has provided strategic regulatory guidance under Haeckl Biopharma Consulting, LLC.  Previously, Ms. Haeckl was SVP of Regulatory Affairs & Quality Systems at ContraFect Corporation supporting development of a novel class of anti-infective products with a Breakthrough designation. Prior to that, she was one of the initial executives at Zavante Therapeutics (acquired by Nabriva Therapeutics) and held the position of VP of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Systems, establishing the quality systems and successfully negotiating the streamlined development strategy for the CONTEPO^™ (fosfomycin for injection) NDA that is currently undergoing review.  Ms. Haeckl was on the Executive Management Team at Cerexa (acquired by Allergan) in the position of Executive Director of Regulatory Affairs. While at Cerexa, Ms. Haeckl was instrumental in gaining US marketing approval for AVYCAZ^™, as the first product approved under the GAIN Act. Prior to joining Cerexa, she was a member of the Sr. Management Team at MAP Pharmaceuticals responsible for Regulatory Affairs and Quality Systems, establishing the quality systems and directing the company through submission of their first NDA for inhaled dihydroergotamine for acute migraines.  Ms. Haeckl’s other regulatory and quality experience includes management positions held at Replidyne, Allos Therapeutics, and OSI Pharmaceuticals (formerly Gilead Sciences and NeXstar Pharmaceuticals) with worldwide regulatory responsibilities for anti-infective and oncology products.  She began her career at Syntex USA obtaining increasing responsibility in various roles within their regulatory organization. Ms. Haeckl holds a bachelors degree in Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder and has a regulatory affairs certification (RAC).

Daniel is a member of our founding executive team and has served as our Chief Scientific Officer since March 2018. Previously, he was Executive Director and then promoted to Vice President of Biology at Inception Sciences, Inc., or Inception, a Versant Ventures discovery engine, from February 2011 to February 2018 where he led all aspects of biology and non-clinical pharmacology, including the acquisition of the remyelination program Inception 5 by Roche Holdings Inc. Prior to joining Inception, Dr. Lorrain was Senior Director of Pharmacology at Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from July 2005 to November 2010 and contributed to the discovery of several clinical stage small molecule therapeutics to treat inflammation and fibrosis. Notably, he led the efforts of the LPA1R program that was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb Company. Prior to that, he was a Research Fellow at Merck & Co., Inc. from November 1999 to June 2005 where he contributed to early central nervous system drug discovery.

Daniel received a B.S. in Psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1991 and a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1997 and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago from 1997 to 1999.

John joined Contineum as General Counsel & Corporate Secretary in June 2024.  Mr. Healy is a business and transactional attorney with over two decades of experience in the biotechnology industry, including as a corporate associate within top tier law firms, as a public company general counsel and as a trusted legal advisor providing a broad range of legal consulting support to the executive management teams of his private and public consulting clients. He joins Contineum after serving as General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at the public biotechnology company, Tyra Biosciences, Inc., where he served on the executive management team and was responsible for all company legal matters, including overseeing the company’s IPO in late 2021 and transition to becoming a public company. Additionally, for more than a decade, Mr. Healy has been a legal consultant to numerous privately held and publicly traded clients within the life sciences industry, including Contineum, providing executive level counsel and advice to senior management teams, boards of directors and company departments on legal matters through the full corporate life cycle from early stage through research, product formulation and manufacturing, pre-clinical/clinical development to initial public offering or corporate acquisition. Prior to his consulting practice, Mr. Healy served as General Counsel & Secretary for Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded biotechnology company. Mr. Healy began his career supporting life sciences and emerging growth companies as a corporate, transactional and securities attorney at national law firms including tenures at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, Clifford Chance and Latham & Watkins. Mr. Healy received his J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jon is a Vice President of CMC at Contineum Therapeutics. Previously, he was executive director of Chemistry at Inception Sciences, Inc., where he led CMC activities as well as medicinal chemistry in various programs from hearing restoration to immuno oncology. Prior to joining Inception, Jon led the medicinal chemistry team that discovered the LPA1R antagonist for the treatment of various fibrotic diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and led to the acquisition of Amira Pharmaceuticals by Bristol-Myers Squibb. He began his career as a Research Fellow at Merck & Co., Inc. where he contributed to early-stage CNS drug discovery. He was a postdoctoral fellow at California Institute of Technology with Nobel laureate Bob Grubbs and received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California at San Diego.

Bio to come.

Julie Iwashita joined Contineum Therapeutics in October 2020 as Vice President, Clinical Operations. She brings more than 30 years of experience leading clinical development programs through successful submissions and marketing approvals in various therapeutic areas including CNS, cardiorenal, infectious disease, metabolic disorders, and oncology. She has served as a clinical consultant for multiple private and public biotech companies exploring neurological disorders including age-related macular degeneration, spinal cord injury, and migraine headaches. Previously, she served as Vice President, Clinical Operations at Cirius Therapeutics. Prior to Cirius, she was Executive Director, Clinical Operations at Kodiak Sciences Inc., Laguna Pharmaceuticals, and Sorbent Therapeutics, and was previously Senior Director of Clinical Operations at MAP Pharmaceuticals, Proteolix (through acquisition by Onyx Pharmaceuticals), and Affymax. She has also led clinical programs at Aviron (through acquisition by MedImmune), Amgen, and Syntex. Julie holds a bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford University.

Karin is currently our Vice President of Toxicology, who previously served as the Senior Director of Pharmacology. Prior to joining Contineum Therapeutics, she was Associate Director of Biology at Inception Sciences where she led the in vivo pharmacology group to drive preclinical pharmacology and toxicology efforts in support of multiple research programs including the Inception 5 remyelination company which was acquired by Roche. Karin’s professional experience encompasses a diverse range of therapeutic areas including multiple sclerosis, hearing, ophthalmology, oncology, fibrosis, allergic asthma, COPD, and osteoporosis. Prior to joining Inception Sciences, Karin held Senior Scientist positions at Amira Pharmaceuticals, Organon Research Center USA, and UCB Research, and was initiated into drug discovery at Ariad Pharmaceuticals. Karin received a B.Sc. in Physiology from McGill University.