About

Ed Boyden is Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology at MIT, an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the MIT McGovern Institute, and professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Media Arts and Sciences, and Biological Engineering at MIT. He leads the Synthetic Neurobiology Group, which develops tools for analyzing and repairing complex biological systems, such as the brain, and applies them systematically to reveal ground truth principles of biological function and to repair these systems. He co-directs the MIT Center for Neurobiological Engineering and the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics, and is a faculty member of the MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences, Computational & Systems Biology Initiative, and Koch Institute.

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Ed received his Ph.D. in neurosciences from Stanford University as a Hertz Fellow. In parallel to his PhD, as an independent side project, he co-invented optogenetic control of neurons, which is now used throughout neuroscience. Previously, he studied chemistry at the Texas Academy of Math and Science at the University of North Texas, starting college at age 14, where he worked on origins of life chemistry. He went on to earn three degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, and physics, from MIT, graduating at age 19, while working on quantum computing for his Masters of Engineering thesis.

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Ed is the recipient of the Wilhelm Exner Medal (2020), the Croonian Medal (2019), the Canada Gairdner International Award (2018), the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2016), the Grete Lundbeck Brain Prize (2013) and numerous other recognitions. He was named to the World Economic Forum Young Scientist list (2013) and the Technology Review World’s "Top 35 Innovators under Age 35" list (2006), and is an elected member of the US National Academy of Sciences (2019).

Professor Li-Huei Tsai is the Director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and a Picower Professor of Neuroscience, both at MIT, and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and completed her postdoctoral training at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories and Massachusetts General Hospital. Tsai became Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and was promoted to tenured Professor in 2002. She relocated to MIT in 2006. She was an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1997 to 2013.

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Tsai is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, a Member of the National Academy of Medicine, an Academician of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Tsai is interested in elucidating the pathogenic mechanisms underlying neurological disorders that impact learning and memory. She is a recipient of the Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2018 Hans Wigzell Research Foundation Science Prize. In 2022 she was named a Visiting Professor of the Vallee Foundation.

Christian brings more than 20 years of expertise in medical devices, where he navigated responsibilities in business development, commercial leadership, product management, market development, and strategy. Prior to joining Cognito, he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Aetion’s Medical Device and Diagnostic Group. In this role, Howell was responsible for the commercialization of Aetion’s real-world evidence platform to the medical device and diagnostics industry. During his nearly 15 year tenure at Medtronic, Christian led Medtronic’s Value-Based Health Care Partnerships organization, as well as P&L responsibility for Medtronic’s Integrated Health Solutions program to improve delivery of care and patient experience with partner health systems.

Recognized as a forward-thinking industry leader in value-based healthcare, Howell has presented on payment system transformation and partnership strategies with healthcare professionals around the world. Howell is a former Officer in the United States Navy and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Tulane University.

Ralph Kern MD MHSc is currently Chief Medical Officer at Cognito Therapeutics. Previously he was President and Chief Medical Officer at BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics. Prior industry experience includes SVP and head of the global medical organization at Biogen; VP and head of the US Neuroscience Medical Unit at Novartis; and General Manager of the Fabrazyme biologics franchise at Genzyme.

Prior to joining the biotechnology industry, Ralph was head of the academic neurology program at the University of Toronto and led the clinical neurophysiology department at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

Ralph completed undergraduate education in neurophysiology at McGill University in Montreal Quebec, an MD from Queens’ University in Kingston Ontario, post-graduate neurology training at McGill University and the University College London UK, as well as a research fellowship in pediatric epilepsy and EEG at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Ralph completed the MHSc program in Health Administration from the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto in 2003.

Mihaly Hajos is Chief Scientific Officer at Cognito Therapeutics. In his role, he oversees preclinical research and translational medicine related to Alzheimer’s disease. He has keen interest in biomarkers, as translational research tools as well as markers providing insight to mode of action of Cognito’s treatment in patients. He is also exploring additional therapeutic applications for sensory gamma stimulation and for developing it as personalized treatment based on patients’ neurophysiological characteristics. He held positions in both academic and industrial drug discovery, including University of Oxford, Pfizer, and Biogen. Currently, he is professor adjunct at Yale University School of Medicine, and he chairs the Alzheimer’s Association Electrophysiology Professional Interest Area. He enjoys classical music and traveling. He received his PharmD degree at Szent-Gyorgyi Medical University, Hungary, and his PhD at University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Kim Kwan is the Chief Technology Officer at Cognito Therapeutics. Kim is responsible for overseeing the technical strategy, device development and manufacturing operations to support the company’s clinical studies and product commercialization. His focus is to build a system platform that is scalable and can support treatment for a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases starting with Alzheimer’s Disease. He is an engineer by trade and at heart with close to three decades of Class III, Class II, PMA, IDE, and 510K medical device experience in startup, midsize and Fortune 500 companies with varied technical and leadership roles. In his spare time, he enjoys road tripping with his family and tinkering with electronics such as Ham radios, pinball machines, home automation devices, and more. Kim received his BS in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University.

Kimberly leads Communications at Cognito Therapeutics. She is founder and CEO of KKH Advisors, a life sciences and digital health strategic communications firm. She was previously Senior Director at FTI Consulting, Life Sciences and Healthcare, Capital Markets, where she advised a broad range of clients from Fortune 500 to early-stage companies on business transformation, corporate and executive positioning, crisis and issues management, and financial communications with a focus on IPO readiness.

Prior to FTI Consulting (NYSE: FCN), a global business advisory firm, she was Global Editor at BioPharm Insight, a business intelligence product launched by the Financial Times Group. She started her career as an M&A reporter in Hong Kong covering Asia-Pacific healthcare and transferred to New York to cover US pharmaceuticals in 2007. She has been a guest lecturer at Columbia University and Georgetown University on change management communications and a guest speaker at Weill Cornell Medicine Bioventure eLab. She has a BA in Psychology from New York University.