Management Team

Dr. Javitt has been a founder of seven successful healthcare IT and biopharma startups with public exits. He has additionally led drug-development engagements for Merck, Allergan, Pharmacia, Novartis, and Pfizer. He was appointed to healthcare leadership roles under Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush. In the latter role he was commissioned by President Bush to Chair the Health Committee of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) and to lead the development of Executive Order 13335, establishing the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. In the aftermath of 9/11, Dr. Javitt was appointed a Senior Fellow in the National Security Health Policy Center of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies to focus on biosecurity preparedness and appointed by President Bush to the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense. He is a graduate of Princeton University, Cornell University Medical College, Harvard School of Public Health, the Wills Eye Hospital, and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The Harvard Chan School awarded him the Alumnus of Merit award in 2016 and he continues to serve as Adjunct Professor of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Javitt has published more than 200 scientific works in the areas of health outcomes and Pharmacoeconomics that have been cited by more than 29,000 scientists. In his role as Chief Scientist of NRx Pharmaceuticals he continues to lead NRx on Scientific matters to advance and expand our pipeline of lifesaving medicines.

Michael Abrams is a senior finance professional with almost three decades of experience as an executive officer, investment banker, director and senior advisor, which includes serving as the Chief Financial Officer of Arch Therapeutics, RiseIT Solutions. and FitLife Brands. Mr. Abrams has deep experience across multiple functional areas including, but not limited to, financial operations, accounting, mergers and acquisitions, financial engineering, capital raising and shareholder communications. He earned his MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business following his BBA with Honors from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he was named a William F. Field alumni scholar.

Rick is currently the SVP of CMC at BridgeBio Pharma. Prior to joining BridgeBio, Rick served as VP of Pharmaceutical Development Services at WuXi STA, where he provided scientific leadership in formulation development and GMP manufacturing. From 2004 to 2015, Rick served as Global Head of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Profiling (CPP) at Novartis. His responsibilities included all small molecule therapeutics across the Novartis portfolio. He also led and developed novel drug delivery technologies for small molecules and biologics. Rick has also led R&D groups at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Symbollon Pharmaceuticals, Biogen, and Bausch & Lomb. Rick earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Toronto and did a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dr. Cohen is an Interventional Psychiatrist and Psychopharmacologist specializing in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders as well as a nationally recognized expert in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Cohen & Associates, was established in 2014 as one of the nation’s first interventional psychiatry practices. Dr Cohen brings pivotal leadership and clinical expertise to the entire HOPE network, defining and instilling NRx Pharmaceuticals and HOPE’s clinical values and focus on comprehensive, neuroplastic care.

Dr. Cohen is a graduate of Tufts University and Boston University, where she earned her MS In medical sciences and was awarded her MD together with the psychiatry department’s Malamud Award for Excellence. She trained In adult psychiatry training at the University of Minnesota and Georgetown University, where she was twice awarded the Hugh H. Hussey Teaching award. She completed her fellowship in psychotherapy at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. She was appointed a Site Investigator of the National Outcomes Study for TMS in 2012.

She currently serves on the International Clinical TMS Society (CTMSS) Board of Directors and has served as the Co-Chair of the Society’s Membership Committee. 

Dr. McBride has led numerous national and international initiatives in neuroscience and its interface with information technology, national security, and medical technology/drug development within the federal government, three of which are now multi-billion dollar enterprises. Dr. McBride began his career as a medical scientist in Naval Aviation and ergonomics and served in eight nationally prominent laboratories, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Naval Aerospace Medical Research Lab, Naval Research Lab, the Office of Naval Research, and the Naval Medical Research Institute. Upon retiring as a highly decorated senior officer (O-6), he assumed leadership of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, where he continues to serve as President Emeritus. Following his ten-year term, he was recruited back to the National Defense University to lead the Center for Technology and National Security Policy, culminating his government career as a Senior Executive-4 (Civilian equivalent to Rear Admiral/Vice Admiral). Dr. McBride has served as an adviser to Cabinet Secretaries, US Congressional Committees, and to corporate C-Suite executives. His educational background includes formal enrollment at the University of Georgia, Naval Aerospace Medical Institute (flight surgeon school), the University of Southern California, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Business School, earning a Ph.D. in experimental psychology, four master’s degrees, and an additional postdoctoral education in aviation medicine, systems engineering science, and strategic disruption. He has published widely and was elected by faculty in 1999 to full professor. Dr. McBride has served at multiple universities in colleges of Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Public Policy, and Medicine. For the past 12 years, Dr. McBride has served as an adjunct Professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine and co-Director of Georgetown’s Regulatory Science Program.

Michael Taylor brings over 25 years of experience in global credit markets, with a focus on special situations and capital formation. He has served as Partner at the Adi Dassler International Family Office in Nassau, Bahamas, and as Managing Director at Oppenheimer & Co., where he specialized in complex debt structuring and multijurisdictional transactions. Prior to that, he spent eight years at Stone & Youngberg as Managing Director of Institutional Fixed Income Trading and Alternative Investments. Michael began his career as a Bond Trader at Morgan Stanley. A graduate of the London School of Economicswith a Bachelor of Science in Economics and International Relations, Michael has built a reputation for navigating complex financial environments and delivering innovative solutions. These skills will be integral to the growth of the HOPE clinic network. He joins NRx Pharmaceuticals as the Board Designee of Smith & Sauer, LLC, following the recently announced financing.

Mr. Tyson has both clinical and commercial experience in addressing the needs of people suffering with serious mental illness. He began his career as a counselor in multiple settings working with children and adults with psychiatric conditions and addiction, before joining the pharmaceutical industry where he has spent 25 years developing expertise in all aspects of commercialization and sales. He served at GSK for 14 years in increasingly senior roles. He then joined Indivior as VP of Strategy and New Product Development, and then SVP of Sales and Marketing and subsequently President of Behavioral Health. He led Indivior in the successful launch of SUBLOCADE®, a once-monthly injectable for the treatment of opioid addiction, delivering 17 consecutive quarters of double-digit growth during his tenure. Most recently, Mr. Tyson has focused on the emerging sector of companies developing neuroplastic therapies for psychiatric conditions, including leadership level work with Transcend Therapeutics who recently announced a $700m deal with Otsuka. As CCO, Mr. Tyson is responsible for building world-class market-access, distribution, sales and marketing functions to support commercialization of this NDA, as well as future pipeline assets in psychiatry designed to address the tremendous unmet needs of people suffering with serious mental illnesses.

Prof. Brown, is a psychiatrist, neurologist, and neuroscientist who studies the underlying mechanisms of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and translating these mechanisms into clinical optimization. He’s the Medical Director of the McLean Hospital TMS Service, the Director of TMS research, and founding director of the Brain Stimulation Mechanisms Laboratory with more than $20M awarded in federal funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. He holds an appointment with Harvard Medical School as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and serves as the President of the Clinical TMS Society and founding Editor-in-Chief of the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation journal. Prof. Brown is an early pioneer in understanding the biologic effect of TMS and enhancing that biologic effect with neuroplastic medications, including D-cycloserine (under development by NRx as NRX-101). Additionally, he has been funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop pathways to deploy TMS as a therapy for treating combat-related depression and PTSD in a manner that can be forward deployable and enhance force preparedness. At NRx, he will collaborate with Dr. Dennis McBride, PhD (CAPT Ret. US Navy, SES4 Ret., National Defense University and Office of the Secretary of Defense), who serves as a Director and Chief Strategy Officer of NRx Pharmaceuticals.