Athira Pharma Inc, a clinical-stage company dedicated to developing therapies for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, announced yesterday that it has named Mark Litton, PhD, MBA as its new chief operating officer.

Dr Litton has more than two decades of life sciences experience covering a breadth of responsibilities and achievements. He is co-founder of Alder BioPharmaceuticals, where he served as chief business officer and treasurer from 2004 to 2018. Prior to co-founding Alder BioPharmaceuticals, Dr Litton's experience spans executive leadership positions including vice president of Business Development at Celltech Group, where he was responsible for securing, commercialising, and partnering numerous novel discoveries and therapeutic programs, vice president of Business Development at Chiroscience Group plc, and manager of Business Development for Ribozyme.

Dr Litton holds a PhD in Immunology from Stockholm University, an MBA from Santa Clara University, and a BS in Biochemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz.