Our Team
Experienced leadership driving innovation in CNS therapeutics
Leadership Team

Sandeep Patil, MD PhD
Cofounder and CEO
Dr. Sandeep Patil has steered Praxis Bioresearch since its founding in 2014 as a clinical-stage biopharma company. During this time, he oversaw the discovery and early development of a major therapeutic asset, PRX-P4-003, a new chemical entity for multiple indications, won successive SBIR awards, and engineered the formation of a strong core team with renowned thinkers and drug developers.
In October 2024, Dr. Patil and the Praxis team achieved a significant milestone with FDA clearance of their IND application for PRX-P4-003, validating the scientific quality and safety profile of their in-house developed candidate. This rigorous regulatory approval, which typically requires extensive preclinical data and comprehensive quality controls, enables the transition from laboratory testing to human clinical trials. Dr. Patil is particularly proud that this achievement was accomplished with a total investment of less than $7M, compared to typical cost of approximately $30M USD for in-house preclinical development from discovery to IND, demonstrating exceptional capital efficiency in drug development.
He holds multiple patents in diverse areas such as chemistry, computer method systems to prevent patch overdose and a biomechanical device. In his current position, Dr. Patil has successfully raised funds (including non-dilutive US $5M) to advance company assets.
Previously, Dr. Patil led many preclinical and clinical development programs for nearly 15 years at pharmaceutical companies such as Lilly, Takeda, Theravance, Astra Zeneca, etc. His work in drug development has resulted in first-authored publications in top-tier scientific journals, such as Nature Medicine and the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Dr. Patil completed his Master's and PhD training in Physiology and Cell Biology from the Albany Medical College, graduating with top academic and research awards. He performed his clinical residency in Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania before entering pharmaceutical research and development.

Rick Winningham
Cofounder and Strategic Advisor
Mr. Rick E. Winningham has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Theravance Biopharma, Inc. since its spin-off from Theravance, Inc. (renamed Innoviva, Inc. in January 2016) in June 2014. From October 2001 to August 2014, Mr. Winningham served as Chief Executive Officer of Theravance, Inc., where he also served as Chairman of the board of directors from April 2010 to October 2014.
From 1997 to 2001 he served as President, Bristol-Myers Squibb Oncology/Immunology/Oncology Therapeutics Network ("OTN") and also as President of Global Marketing from 2000 to 2001. In addition to operating responsibility for U.S. Oncology/Immunology/OTN at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mr. Winningham also had full responsibility for Global Marketing in the Cardiovascular, Infectious Disease, Immunology, Oncology/Metabolics and GU/GI/Neuroscience therapeutic areas. Over a fifteen‑year period beginning in 1986 with BMS and its predecessor, Bristol‑Myers, Mr. Winningham held various U.S. and global management positions.
Mr. Winningham served as a Director on the board of directors of the California Healthcare Institute ("CHI") from November 2011 to March 2015. He was elected Chairman of CHI in January 2014, a position he held until CHI merged with Baybio to become the California Life Sciences Association ("CLSA") in March 2015. Mr. Winningham was subsequently elected to the role of Chairman of CLSA in March 2015. He stepped down from the CLSA position in November 2015. He is a member of the board of directors of Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc, and a member of the board of directors of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Mr. Winningham is a member of Biotechnology Industry Organization's board of directors and served on the Health Section Governing Board Standing Committee on Reimbursement. Mr. Winningham holds an M.B.A. from Texas Christian University and a B.S. degree from Southern Illinois University.

Adam Levy
Director and Strategic Advisor
Mr. Levy has served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of Mineralys Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing medicines to target hypertension, chronic kidney disease and other diseases driven by abnormally elevated aldosterone since March 2022. Prior to Mineralys, he served as the CFO at Sanifit Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on treatments for vascular calcification disorders, until it was acquired by Vifor Pharma in January 2022.
Prior to Sanifit, he served as the Chief Business Officer at Brickell Biotech, where he led the organization's financial operations transition as it became a publicly listed company on the Nasdaq. Before joining Brickell, Adam was the Chief Business Officer at miRagen Therapeutics, Inc., where he had broad operational responsibilities and led several business development transactions and capital raises, including a listing on the Nasdaq.
Previous to his executive roles in biopharmaceuticals, Adam held multiple investment banking positions at Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Jefferies and Wedbush. During his time as an investment banker, he completed over $30 billion in financing and M&A transactions for his clients. Mr. Levy received a B.S. in Business Management and Marketing from Cornell University.

Valentino Stella, PhD
Scientific Advisor and Co-inventor of PRX-P4-003
Professor Stella is recognized as a "giant in pharmaceutical chemistry" and one of the leading prodrug experts in the world. He is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy, and founder of three Kansas companies: Cydex Pharma, Crititech, and ProQuest Pharma.
He is the inventor or co-inventor of the drugs fosphenytoin (Cerebyx®), Viread®, Lusedra® and Captisol®, the solubilizer used in the injectable forms of Vfend®, Geodon®, Abilify®, Nexterone® and the veterinary product Cerenia®, and he helped formulate the novel anticancer drug Velcade®.

William Z. Potter, MD PhD
Chief Scientific Advisor
Dr. Potter is a renowned neuropsychiatric drug development expert. Dr. Potter is currently a Senior Advisor in Neuropsychiatry at NIMH. Previously, Dr. Potter was Vice President of Translational Neuroscience at Merck and, before that, Head of Early Clinical Development at Eli Lilly.
Prior to working in the pharmaceutical industry, he had a distinguished career at the National Institutes of Health, primarily at NIMH. Dr. Potter was one of the early architects of the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, and he continues as an active participant on the Industry Strategic Advisory Board. He is co-chair Emeritus of the NIH Biomarkers Consortium Neuroscience Steering Committee. In addition, he serves on the Institute of Medicine Forum on Neuroscience.
Dr. Potter has authored over 250 publications in neuroscience.
Neuroscience Advisory Group
Jeffrey L. Cummings, MD, ScD
Research Professor, Director, Chambers-Grundy Center for Transformative Neuroscience, Co-Director, Pam Quirk Brain Health and Biomarker Laboratory
Jeffrey L. Cummings, MD, ScD, joined the UNLV School of Allied Health Sciences in 2019 as a research professor within the department of Brain Health. Prior to UNLV, Dr. Cummings served as founding director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, and as director of the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research, and director of the Deane F. Johnson Center for Neurotherapeutics, both at UCLA.
Dr. Jeffrey Cummings is ranked in the top 0.01% of scientists and #5 in Alzheimer's disease research in a recent publication in PLoS Biology.
A world-renowned Alzheimer's researcher and leader of clinical trials, Dr. Cummings has been recognized for his scientific and leadership contributions with the American Geriatrics Society's Henderson Award (2006), the national Alzheimer's Association's Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Award (2008), and the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry's Distinguished Scientist Award (2010). Dr. Cummings' interests embrace clinical trials, developing new therapies for brain diseases, and the interface of neuroscience and society. In his new role, Dr. Cummings will help establish and expand the department's research capacity, and continue his groundbreaking work in combating neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr. Cummings received the Society for Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology's Lifetime Achievement Award (2017), the International Society of CNS Drug Development's Leadership and Achievement Award, and the national Alzheimer's Association's Bengt Winblad Lifetime Achievement Award (2018). Additionally, he was featured in Gentleman's Quarterly (June 2009) as a "Rock Star of Science."
In addition to his work at UNLV, Dr. Cummings is a professor of medicine (Neurology) at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, and he is the principal investigator/director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences-funded Center for Neurodegeneration and Translational Neuroscience.