Executive Team
Ben Gibson
Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder
Ben Gibson leads corporate strategy, financing, and business development at Pano Therapeutics. Ben began studying and exploring opportunities for mitochondria-targeted small molecule drug discovery & development in 2017. He co-founded Pano in 2019 with the aim of developing enhanced small molecules with similar pharmacology as metformin for a range of potential applications for which metformin has been demonstrated as having prototypical efficacy. Ben led the process by which Fragile X Syndrome was selected as Pano’s lead clinical indication, as well as the conception of the broader syndromic NDD development strategy. Previously, he served as a Managing Director of Investment Banking at Canaccord Genuity.
Ken Batchelor, PhD
Head of Research & Development and Co-founder
Ken Batchelor leads research and development at Pano and is the inventor of the company’s OCT-optimized biguanide discovery strategy and lead drug candidates, bringing deep drug-discovery and translational-development experience to Pano’s broad biguanide platform and lead Fragile X Syndrome / NDD drug development program. He previously served as SVP of R&D at GSK where he brought 13 drug candidates from discovery inception through pivotal development, and as CEO and Founder of NovaTarg Therapeutics.
Board of Directors
Dr. Morris J. Birnbaum, MD/PhD
Non-Executive Director
Former SVP of Pfizer and CSO of Pfizer IMRU (internal medicine and neurological); Previously, a professor and research scientist at UPenn / Perelman School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School.
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Ben Gibson
Chief Executive Officer / Co-founder
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Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Morris J. Birnbaum, MD/PhD
Chair of Scientific Advisory Board
Former (2014-2022) SVP of Pfizer and CSO of Pfizer’s Internal Medicine Research Unit (IMRU) responsible for leading Pfizer’s IMRU portfolio and technology strategies in the general areas of cardiometabolic and neurological diseases, spanning from initial drug discovery through clinical proof of concept into late-stage clinical development. Dr. Birnbaum was also responsible for selecting and managing external academic and private collaborations as well as performing scientific diligence for licensing and M&A opportunities, and participated in Pfizer’s Worldwide Research, Development, and Medicine Leadership team. Previously, Dr. Birnbaum had a three-decade career as a Physician Scientist, leading an academic laboratory focused on basic research in fundamental mechanisms in metabolic regulation. His research focused on the study of insulin action, metabolism and how organisms respond to both a deficit and a surfeit of food. He occupied roles at Harvard Medical School, the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Birnbaum has published over 200 refereed papers in the world’s leading scientific journals.
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Navdeep S Chandel, PhD
David W. Cugell Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry, and Molecular Genetics at Northwestern University.
Dr. Chandel’s research has made contributions to understanding the function of mitochondria, beyond their roles as biosynthetic and bioenergetic organelles generating metabolites for the production of macromolecules and ATP. Dr. Chandel has elucidated that mitochondria participate in cellular signaling processes, implicating the necessity of mitochondrial ROS as second messengers for multiple biological processes. Dr. Chandel’s work has established that mitochondrial metabolism and ROS is necessary for tumorigenesis in vivo, leading to our current understanding that both aerobic glycolysis and mitochondrial metabolism are essential for tumor growth. Moreover, Dr. Chandel found that the widely used anti-diabetic drug metformin exerts its effects in disease areas such as Type 2 Diabetes and cancer through inhibition of mitochondrial complex I.
Eric M. Parker, PhD
Senior Advisor for Neuroscience, Curie.Bio
Dr. Parker is a senior CNS translational scientist with 35 years of drug discovery and development experience. He holds a PhD in pharmacology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. His career spans Bristol-Myers Squibb, Schering-Plough, and Merck, where he led discovery and early-development groups in neurodegenerative disease, psychiatric disease, pain, metabolic disease, and supportive cancer care. Dr. Parker's teams have delivered twelve compounds into clinical development, including verubecestat, a BACE1 inhibitor for Alzheimer's disease published in Science Translational Medicine; rolapitant, a marketed NK1 antagonist; and preladenant, an A2A adenosine receptor antagonist advanced through Phase 2/3 for Parkinson's disease. He co-led a multi-year translational science initiative at Merck specifically aimed at embedding pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling and translational measures earlier in drug discovery. From 2021 to 2023 he served as Vice President of Neuroscience at Kallyope, a company focused on AMPK-mediated metabolic signaling. He was named a Merck Presidential Fellow in 2010 and received the PhRMA Research and Hope Award in 2012.
Robert H. Ring, PhD
Lead Neurodevelopmental Disorder Advisor
Dr. Ring is a globally recognized expert in neurodevelopmental disorders with over 25 years of experience in CNS medicines research and development spanning leadership positions in industry, governmental agencies, and non-profit research foundations.
Most recently, Dr. Ring was CEO of Kaerus Bioscience Ltd., a clinical-stage biotech developing therapeutics for rare genetic syndromes of neurodevelopment, including Fragile X Syndrome, from 2019 until its acquisition by Servier Pharmaceuticals in 2025. Prior roles included CSO of Autism Speaks, a global science and advocacy foundation in the autism space; Head of the Autism Research Unit at Pfizer, the first dedicated drug discovery unit in large pharma focused exclusively on the development of therapeutics for ASD and related NDD indications such as Fragile X Syndrome, and; head of mood and anxiety disorders drug discovery research at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Ring also served on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Clinical Advisory Board
Randi J. Hagerman, MD
Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics; Endowed Chair in Fragile X Research, UC Davis MIND Institute
Dr. Hagerman is one of the world's foremost clinical authorities on Fragile X Syndrome, with over 600 peer-reviewed publications across four decades and an active clinical practice treating individuals with Fragile X Syndrome as a practicing pediatrician. She holds the Endowed Chair in Fragile X Research at the UC Davis MIND Institute. Dr. Hagerman is the principal investigator of the UC Davis MIND Institute randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of metformin in Fragile X Syndrome, the largest United States-based clinical trial of a biguanide in this indication. She is also a co-author on the 2025 Molecular Autism randomized controlled trial of metformin in Fragile X Syndrome conducted at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, which demonstrated significant improvements in hyperactivity and sleep disturbances in metformin-treated children versus placebo. The published conclusion of that trial explicitly identified the absence of objective neurophysiological measures as a key limitation and called for further investigation with objective endpoints — directly endorsing the biomarker-driven development strategy Pano Therapeutics is pursuing with PAN1195.
Joe Horrigan, MD
Dr. Horrigan is a leading expert in the development of therapeutics for neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, having led Phase 1 through Phase 4 clinical development for a number of drug candidates in this therapeutic area, including the only drug approved to date for the treatment of a neurodevelopmental disorder indication (Rett syndrome).
Dr. Horrigan has served in the role of Executive Vice President, Clinical and Medical Affairs of Engrail Therapeutics since March, 2025. Prior to Engrail, Dr. Horrigan served for ten years in the role of Chief Medical Officer at AMO Pharma, a biotech company with a focus on rare disorders at the intersection between neurology and psychiatry. Prior to that, he led clinical development and medical affairs at Neuren Pharmaceuticals; and served as the Head of Medical Research at Autism Speaks, the world’s largest science and advocacy organization dedicated to individuals and their families affected by autism. In addition, Dr. Horrigan worked for nine years as a physician project leader at GlaxoSmithKline, when he led the development of multiple neurology and psychiatry medicines. Before he joined GlaxoSmithKline, he was a clinician-researcher at the University of North Carolina, where he served as a sub-investigator, co-investigator and principal investigator in many clinical trials that culminated in several commonly prescribed medicines in neurology and psychiatry. Dr. Horrigan is a long-standing member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of FRAXA (the Fragile X Syndrome Research Foundation) and the Angelman Syndrome Foundation, and he is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Rett Syndrome Foundation. In addition, Joe is a Consulting Associate Professor at Duke University, with a posting in the Center for Autism and Brain Development.
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Sarah Lippé, PhD
Full Professor, Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal; Scientist, Azrieli Research Center, CHU Sainte-Justine
Dr. Lippé leads a developmental neurophysiology program with deep specialization in EEG biomarkers in neurodevelopmental disorders, with sixteen peer-reviewed publications specifically on Fragile X Syndrome resting-state EEG between 2016 and 2026. Her published work has helped define the neurophysiological signature of Fragile X Syndrome — including reduced signal complexity, lower alpha peak frequency, and altered theta, alpha, and gamma power — and has demonstrated that these EEG features correlate directly with core symptom severity in the disorder, including social avoidance, hyperactivity, and cognitive function. Her recent published work has explicitly concluded that EEG biomarkers should be used in future Fragile X Syndrome clinical trials to track therapeutic effects objectively. Dr. Lippé has also served as the EEG principal investigator on the UC Davis MIND Institute metformin clinical research program in Fragile X Syndrome led by Dr. Randi Hagerman.
Regulatory Advisor
Dr. Zan Fleming, MD Endocrinology
Executive Chairman, Kinexum Services
At the US FDA from 1986-98, Dr. Fleming was responsible for the therapeutic areas of diabetes, other metabolic and endocrine disorders, growth and development, nutrition, lipid-lowering compounds, and reproductive indications. He led reviews of landmark approvals, including metformin and the first statin, insulin analog, PPAR-agonist, and growth hormone for non-GH deficiency indications. Dr. Fleming oversaw clinical review of the earliest biotech products, including human insulin and growth hormone. Subsequent to his work at the FDA, Dr. Fleming founded Kinexum Services, a strategic & regulatory advisory firm focused on the complex diseases of aging.
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