William J. Martin is a founding executive team member of BlackThorn Therapeutics where he currently serves as President and Chief Operating Officer, having served previously as Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Research and Development since the Company’s inception. Prior to joining BlackThorn, Dr. Martin held multiple leadership positions at Theravance Biopharma, including leading the company’s research portfolio planning initiative and serving as a member of the strategic partnership team and project team leader for an advanced clinical-stage central nervous system (CNS) program. He began his career at Merck where he contributed to the strategic direction of Merck’s Neuroscience franchise and chaired multiple CNS development teams. Bill serves on the Advisory Council for Brown University’s Carney Institute for Brain Science and is an At-Large Member of the Coalition for the Life Sciences Board of Directors. He graduated from Swarthmore College, earned a PhD from Brown University, and conducted postdoctoral research at the Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco.