Srinivas Rao MS, MD, PhD

Dr. Srinivas Rao is a physician-scientist and pharmaceutical executive with over 17 years of professional experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. He is presently the Chief Medical Officer at Axial Biotherapeutics, a company developing innovative microbiome-based treatments for neurological diseases, including autism and Parkinson’s Disease. Previously, Dr. Rao earlier held the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Depomed, Inc. (NASDAQ:DEPO), a vertically-integrated pharmaceutical company with six marketed pain- and neurology-focused products as well as a development candidate in Phase 3.

Previously, he was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kyalin Biosciences, Inc.—a company focused on the development of therapies to treat the core symptoms of autism—a company that was ultimately acquired by Retrophin, Inc., where Dr. Rao held the title of Executive Vice President and Head of Neuroscience. Dr. Rao held positions at 3 Avalon Ventures portfolio companies; specifically, Chief Scientific Officer at Sova Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Chief Medical Officer at both Avelas Biosciences, Inc. and ReVision Therapeutics., Inc.

Finally, Dr. Rao was the Chief Scientific Officer at Cypress Bioscience where he was the innovator behind milnacipran, a repurposed compound that launched in the U.S. in 2009 as Savella for the treatment of the chronic pain of fibromyalgia. Dr. Rao has published 17 manuscripts with topics ranging from original, basic science and clinical research to invited, topical reviews. Dr. Rao completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He received his Ph.D. in neurobiology from Yale Graduate School and his M.D. from Yale School of Medicine. He holds both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Yale College and Yale Graduate School, respectively.