Leadership Team
John Reilly is CEO of Damona Pharmaceuticals. He brings extensive experience in developing innovative medicines and company-building, with deep knowledge and expertise in corporate strategy, business development, and leading teams in preclinical R&D and clinical development.
Prior to joining Damona, Mr. Reilly served as President & CEO of Apic Bio, a gene therapy company focused on rare neurodegenerative and liver diseases. He has also served as Vice President of Business Development at Tetragenetics (acquired by Abcellera) and was the founder and CEO of Gendyne Therapeutics.
Mr. Reilly is active in the Massachusetts biotechnology ecosystem, having served as a mentor for the MassBioDrive program, and he currently sits on the committee for Cornell Innovation & Venture Advisors (CIVA). He holds a BA from Hamilton College and MS and MBA degrees from Cornell University.
Etienne Sibille, PhD, is Chief Scientific Officer and a co-founder of Damona Pharmaceuticals. A neuroscientist and neuropharmacologist, he is a Senior Scientist in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, where he held the Campbell Family Chair in Clinical Neuroscience for 10 years. Dr. Sibille is also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Sibille is deeply committed to translational research aimed at identifying the cellular and molecular bases of depression—specifically, in relation to mood, affect, and cognitive components of the illness—to develop novel therapeutic approaches.
Dr. Sibille obtained a PhD from Cornell University followed by postdoctoral training at Columbia University. Prior to joining CAMH, he held academic faculty positions at both Columbia and the University of Pittsburgh.
Ottavio Vitolo, MD is Consulting Chief Medical Officer of Damona Pharmaceuticals and a trained and practicing neuropsychiatrist. Prior to joining Damona, Dr. Vitolo served as Chief Medical Officer at Cerevance Therapeutics, Alcyone, and Relmada Therapeutics. Earlier in his career, Dr. Vitolo was Vice President of Clinical Development at Homology Medicines and held positions of increasing responsibility at Pfizer, including Senior Director and Head of Neuromuscular Clinical Research.
Dr. Vitolo holds a Master of Medical Sciences degree from Harvard Medical School. He received his medical degree from the University of Rome La Sapienza before completing his psychiatry residency at Washington University in St. Louis. He completed a fellowship in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Jeff Irwin is Chief Financial Officer of Damona Pharmaceuticals. A professional accountant with a passion for developing early-stage business models and strategies, Mr. Irwin’s career spans multiple senior financial and operating roles in various sectors, including marketing services, telecommunications, manufacturing/distribution, technology, and life sciences. He operates his own consulting practice providing advisory services focused on fractional CFO services, M&A consulting, business start-ups, and corporate restructurings.
Board of Directors
Dr. Jenuth is a business executive with more than 25 years of life science, IT, and business development experience. She oversees all aspects of Lumira Ventures’ information technology and artificial intelligence initiatives, having designed a world-class venture capital analytics platform. In addition to her primary role on the operations side of Lumira, Dr. Jenuth is also engaged selectively on the investment side of the business, with a particular focus in neurological diseases.
Located in Lumira Ventures’ Toronto office, Dr. Jenuth joined the firm in 2001. Prior to joining Lumira, she worked at Base4 and Open Text Inc., where she developed, sold, and provided support for enterprise content management solutions targeted to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry in North America and Europe.
Dr. Jenuth is a past board member of the Canadian Venture Capital Association (CVCA), a board member of the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization, an associate and mentor with the Creative Destruction Labs (CDL), and a member of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Human Health and Therapeutics Research Centre Advisory Board.
Dr. Jenuth earned a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Calgary, Alberta, followed by postdoctoral studies at the Montréal Neurological Institute and McGill University, both in Québec, where her research focused mainly on the genetic basis of disease involving the human mitochondrial genome.
Thomas Thestrup is a Senior Principal at Angelini Ventures, where he leads investments in life sciences companies. He has 15 years of experience in research, health tech, and the pharmaceuticals industry.
Prior to joining Angelini Ventures, Dr. Thestrup served as Director of Corporate Business Development and Strategy at Lundbeck, where he was responsible for the in-licensing of therapeutic assets in the CNS space and a global strategy project, and he was previously an Associate Director for Global Business Development at UCB Pharma in Belgium, where he worked on therapeutics in-/out-licensing as well as strategic investments in the field of digital health. Dr. Thestrup is also a co-founder of VUS Dx and Jymmin, a Max Planck Health-Tech spin-off in Germany.
Dr. Thestrup received a PhD from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology and Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, and he was a visiting researcher at the Janelia Farm Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) in Virginia. He holds BS and MS degrees from the University of Copenhagen.
Sri Teja Mullapudi is a Principal with Noetic Fund and has helped to raise and deploy more than $60 million in capital toward the goal of improving the mental health treatment landscape across therapeutics, devices, and digital modalities.
Previously, Dr. Mullapudi co-founded and led business development for a neuropsychiatry-focused biotechnology company and developed expertise in early-stage investment opportunity analyses across therapeutic areas from TIAP (MaRS Innovation). He is an author on several research publications and the recipient of multiple awards.
Dr. Mullapudi holds a PhD in biology from the Max Planck Society, and he trained as a biotechnology engineer with the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India.
John Reilly is CEO of Damona Pharmaceuticals. He brings extensive experience in developing innovative medicines and company-building, with deep knowledge and expertise in corporate strategy, business development, and leading teams in preclinical R&D and clinical development.
Prior to joining Damona, Mr. Reilly served as President & CEO of Apic Bio, a gene therapy company focused on rare neurodegenerative and liver diseases. He has also served as Vice President of Business Development at Tetragenetics (acquired by Abcellera) and was the founder and CEO of Gendyne Therapeutics.
Mr. Reilly is active in the Massachusetts biotechnology ecosystem, having served as a mentor for the MassBioDrive program, and he currently sits on the committee for Cornell Innovation & Venture Advisors (CIVA). He holds a BA from Hamilton College and MS and MBA degrees from Cornell University.
Etienne Sibille, PhD, is Chief Scientific Officer and a co-founder of Damona Pharmaceuticals. A neuroscientist and neuropharmacologist, he is a Senior Scientist in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, where he held the Campbell Family Chair in Clinical Neuroscience for 10 years. Dr. Sibille is also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Sibille is deeply committed to translational research aimed at identifying the cellular and molecular bases of depression—specifically, in relation to mood, affect, and cognitive components of the illness—to develop novel therapeutic approaches.
Dr. Sibille obtained a PhD from Cornell University followed by postdoctoral training at Columbia University. Prior to joining CAMH, he held academic faculty positions at both Columbia and the University of Pittsburgh.
Scientific Advisory Board
