Team
Wolfgang Sadee | Chief Science Officer & Founder
A globally respected thought leader in opioid pharmacology, Dr. Wolfgang Sadee is a founder of æther Therapeutics and serves as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Sadee is also Professor em. of Cancer Biology and Genetics, College of Medicine, at the Ohio State University, and Professor em. of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, Colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine, at the University of California San Francisco. Dr. Sadee’s prolific research (well over 400 research papers and monographs) has focused on opioid pharmacology, therapeutics, pharmacogenomics, drug response and toxicity. https://www.linkedin.com/in/wolfgang-sadee-bb39ab10/
Aaron Schuchart | President & Chief Executive Officer
Joining aether THERAPEUTICS in January 2025 as President & CEO, Mr. Schuchart brings over 25 years of leadership experience. Aaron has a proven track record building biopharma businesses in operational and strategic roles with many successful capital raises and strategic transactions. His leadership is set to drive our mission of breaking the chains of opioid addiction to new heights.
Bob Davis | VP of Cinical and Regulator
Bob Davis has over 35 years of experience in biopharma and global CROs with designing, advising and conducting clinical trials, including Lumos, Parke Davis, Searle, Sensus, Pharmaco, among others. He has also been part of the development of multiple drugs that received FDA approval.
Jeremiah Shepard | VP of Project Management and Business Dev
Jeremiah Shepard has led company and market assessments for both sell-side and buy side-biotech investment firms for the past 15 years. Most recently, he spent nine years at Endurant Capital, a healthcare-focused investment fund, covering public equities in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. Previously, on the sell-side he was a publishing analyst for Credit Suisse. After obtaining his PhD in Biochemistry from UT Southwestern, he began his career working on technology licensing deals at the Stanford Office of Technology Licensing.
Board of Directors
Rick Hawkins | Founder & Chairman
Rick Hawkins is a 40 year veteran in the biotechnology field and has founded/co-founded three companies that were successfully sold (Pharmaco à PPD; Sensus à Pfizer; Covance à Azko Nobel). In addition to his keen interest in æther THERAPEUTICS, Mr. Hawkins currently runs both ID2 (a pharmaceutical accelerator) and Lumos Pharma, in his role of CEO and Chairman.
Jon Saxe | Board Member and Lead Director
Jon Saxe brings a wealth of experience, having served on over 25 Boards with multiple successful exits. Mr. Saxe was the Vice President, Corporate Development & Licensing, of Hoffmann-LaRoche, CEO of Synergen, President of PDL Biopharma between 1995 and 2000 and served on its board between 1989 and 2010. Currently, Mr. Saxe is the lead director of the investment entity Kyto Technology and Life Sciences. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-saxe-96b5385
John D. Harris | Board Member
As a member of æther THERAPEUTICS Board of Directors, John Harris brings a strong background in clinical trials, and leadership experience at large, medium and start-up organizations in the biotech and cell therapy fields. He currently is the CEO of BioFire Defense and previously served as æther's President & CEO between June 2022 and January 2025. John's deep operational, executive and market development capabilities are assets to the board.
John McKew | Board Member
John McKew is President and Chief Scientific Officer of Lumos Pharma. Dr. McKew has twenty-seven years of experience developing novel therapeutics where he successfully advanced therapies through preclinical and into clinical development. Prior to Lumos Pharma, Dr. McKew served as V.P. of research at aTyr Pharma where he led a research team discovering and advancing protein-based therapeutics for rare diseases. He has also served as Acting Scientific Director for the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) intramural group, a part of the National Institute of Health (NIH).