Management Team

Dr. Riedel is president and CEO of Aptinyx, as well as a member of the company’s board of directors. He was formerly president and CEO of Naurex, the predecessor company acquired by Allergan and from which Aptinyx and its technology were spun out. Prior to Naurex, Dr. Riedel served various roles at Baxter International including corporate vice president and chief science and innovation officer. Previously, Dr. Riedel was head of worldwide biotechnology and held a number of scientific management positions at Hoechst Marion Roussel (now Sanofi). Dr. Riedel serves on the boards of Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Ariad Pharmaceuticals, and the Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization. Dr. Riedel is a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and was appointed by Governor Pat Quinn to serve on the Illinois Innovation Council. Dr. Riedel received a Diploma and Ph.D. from the University of Frankfurt and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. Dr. Riedel is an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Medicine and Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Prior to moving into industry, he was an assistant professor and associate professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. Khanna is chief business officer of Aptinyx. He was previously vice president of corporate development at Naurex and managed the company’s financing and transaction efforts, culminating in the acquisition by Allergan. Prior to Naurex, Mr. Khanna served as director of business development at Vanda Pharmaceuticals. He was formerly a member of the cardiology strategic marketing team at Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson company. Earlier, he was a strategy consultant with the Palladium Group and with the Strategic Advisory Services practice of Ernst & Young (now Capgemini). Mr. Khanna received a B.S. in finance and B.A.S. in systems engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as an M.B.A. from the Wharton School.

Dr. Madsen is chief medical officer of Aptinyx. He joined the management team of Naurex after serving as an observer on the company’s board of directors. He was previously chief medical officer and vice president of US drug development at Lundbeck. Prior to this, Dr. Madsen was divisional director of international clinical research in mood and anxiety disorders at Lundbeck. Before joining Lundbeck, Dr. Madsen was a resident physician in psychiatry at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. Dr. Madsen received an M.D. and a Ph.D. from Copenhagen University and worked as a postdoctoral associate in the department of molecular psychiatry at Yale University.

Dr. Moskal is chief scientific officer of Aptinyx. He founded Naurex and served as its chief scientific officer until the company was acquired by Allergan. He is also distinguished professor of biomedical engineering at Northwestern University and director of the university’s Falk Center for Molecular Therapeutics. Dr. Moskal previously served as assistant professor and director of the neurosurgery laboratories at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Earlier, he was a staff fellow at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Moskal is well known for his research on the NMDA receptor. He received a B.S. and a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.

Ms. Adams is vice president of human resources and administration at Aptinyx. She has over 24 years of experience in the healthcare industry, which includes 15 years in human resources. Previously, Ms. Adams was vice president of human resources at Naurex. Prior to joining Naurex, she served as senior director of human resources for Durata Therapeutics where she managed HR planning and operations in support of the commercial launch of Dalvance®. Ms. Adams has also led human resources functions at SagePath Medical, BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck Inc., and Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America. Ms. Adams earned a B.A. in psychology from Columbia College and an M.S. in human resources from Loyola University Chicago.

Dr. Cearley is vice president of research at Aptinyx, managing the strategy and operations of the Aptinyx research team as well as the intellectual property (IP) portfolio. She was previously senior director of corporate strategy at Aptinyx. Prior to Aptinyx, Dr. Cearley was senior director of corporate development at Naurex, where she was involved in financing and transaction efforts and managed communications and IP. Prior to Naurex, Dr. Cearley served as director of portfolio management for Takeda Pharmaceuticals. She was formerly a manager in the Life Sciences Practice of L.E.K. Consulting. Dr. Cearley received a B.S. in neuroscience from Washington State University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Houck is vice president of drug development operations at Aptinyx. He has over 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in formulation development, manufacture, and quality control of new chemical entities. Prior to Aptinyx, Dr. Houck was vice president of drug development and quality at Naurex. In addition, Dr. Houck was chief executive officer at Pharmakey LLC, a provider of regulatory, CMC, preclinical, and translational medicine services to biopharmaceutical companies. Previously, he held senior positions at Merck, Sanofi, OSI Pharmaceuticals, and Scynexis. Dr. Houck received a B.S. from Alma College, an M.S. from Purdue University, a Ph.D. from Ohio State University, and served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Dr. Khan is vice president of chemistry research and development at Aptinyx. Prior to Aptinyx, he was vice president of chemistry research and development at Naurex. Dr. Khan has over 20 years’ experience as a senior chemist at several biotechnology companies, including Elan and Gliatech. Dr. Khan has discovered and developed multiple novel central nervous system molecules that have entered human clinical trials, including many NMDA receptor modulators. Dr. Khan received a B.S. and B.Ed. from the Regional Institute of Education, Bhopal, India, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Kanpur University in India. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.