ERIC SCHAEFFER, PH.D.

SENIOR DIRECTOR
NEUROSCIENCE INNOVATION
BOSTON INNOVATION CENTER

Eric Schaeffer, Ph.D. received his degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, and went on to do post-doctoral fellowships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Rockefeller University in New York.  In 1994, Eric joined the Molecular Sciences department at Pfizer in Groton, Connecticut, where he held several positions within the Molecular Sciences and Neuroscience Discovery departments, ultimately as a Senior Director of Neuroscience Research, leading in vitro and in vivo pharmacology groups.  While at Pfizer, Eric was involved in advancing several compounds into early development for the treatment of depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, and played a key role on the team that discovered the first FDA-approved non-nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation.

In 2009, Eric joined the Cure Huntington's Disease Initiative (CHDI) Foundation as Director of Neuropharmacology, where he led drug discovery teams in the identification of novel treatments for Huntington’s disease. In 2010, Eric accepted a position at Bristol Meyers Squibb as Director of Neuroscience Clinical Biomarkers, where he was responsible for the translational medicine strategy and tactics for the psychiatry portfolio. In 2014, Eric joined Janssen R&D as Senior Director in the Neuroscience External Innovations group. In his current role, Eric is responsible for managing a range of biotech and academic alliances focused on delivering novel therapies for the treatment of severe mood disorders and Alzheimer’s disease.