The second video in our Neurovox series is an interview with Bill Martin, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Head of R&D at BlackThorn Therapeutics, a venture-backed company that focuses on creating novel therapies for treating neurobehavioral and psychiatric diseases, ranging from Alzheimer’s to schizophrenia. Dr. Martin heads research and development, and has a long history working in neuroscience industry. After his postdoctoral training at UCSF Center for Integrative Neuroscience, where he became infected by a sense of optimism for change that could be brought about through innovative discoveries, he started his industrial career at Merck Research Laboratories, where he first saw the opportunity to create therapies that could really transform people’s lives. He then spent a decade at Theravance Biopharma and grew his vision for the creation of novel neurotherapeutics, a dream he’s now realizing at BlackThorn Therapeutics.
From his extensive background in neuroscience, Dr. Martin fields questions about the role of understanding neural circuits in neuroscience research and therapies, plus he addresses the challenges neuroscience faces. His answers feel imbued with optimism about the potential for change, and drive home the point that psychiatric diseases have been neglected for far too long. We hope you enjoy hearing his unique perspective.