Leadership

Management Team

Norbert G. Riedel, Ph.D.
Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors

Norbert RiedelDr. Riedel is executive chairman and former chief executive officer of Aptinyx. 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, he 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, Cerevel Therapeutics, Eton Pharmaceuticals, and the Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization. He served on the board of directors of Ariad Pharmaceuticals until the company was acquired in February 2017. Dr. Riedel is a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and served on Governor Pat Quinn’s Illinois Innovation Council. He is an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Medicine and Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and, prior to moving into industry, was an associate professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Riedel received a Diploma and Ph.D. from the University of Frankfurt and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.

Andy Kidd, M.D.
President & Chief Executive Officer
Member of the Board of Directors

Andy KiddMr. Kidd is president and chief executive officer of Aptinyx, as well as a member of the company’s board of directors. Prior to joining Aptinyx in 2017 as chief commercial officer and then chief operating officer, he was with Baxter International for over ten years, most recently as senior vice president of strategy and business development. Previously he held a number of commercial leadership positions including general manager of Baxter Canada, global franchise head for surgical care, and general manager of US anesthesia and cardiovascular. Before joining Baxter he worked at Boston Consulting Group both in London and then Chicago focused on pharmaceutical and other healthcare clients. Mr. Kidd received a BM BCh medical degree from the University of Oxford and a BA in medical sciences from the University of Cambridge.

Molly Dir
Vice President, Human Resources

Molly Dir is vice president of human resources at Aptinyx. She joined the company in 2021 and brings more than 20 years of HR leadership from across the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Aptinyx, she held multiple roles of increasing responsibility at Takeda, where she served as Chief of Staff to the president of the U.S. commercial business unit, helping to facilitate the integration of Takeda and Shire as well as the company’s relocation to Boston. While at Takeda, Ms. Dir also worked as Vice President and Head of Strategic Talent, Diversity & Inclusion and was responsible for the development and execution of all talent programs within the US commercial business unit. She served as Vice President and Head of Global R&D HR, leading a team of 50 global HR professionals and supporting Takeda’s global research and development, including an employee group of 4,500 across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Ms. Dir began her career in life sciences HR in the Pharmaceutical Development Division of Abbott. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Organizational and Interpersonal Communications from Loyola University of Chicago.

M. Amin Khan, Ph.D.
Vice President, Chemistry R&D

M. Amin Khan, Ph.D.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.

Ashish Khanna
Chief Financial Officer & Chief Business Officer

Ashish KhannaMr. Khanna is chief financial officer and chief business officer of Aptinyx, with responsibilities that include finance, corporate and business development, alliance management, legal, and communications. He was previously vice president of corporate development at Naurex and managed its financing and transaction efforts, culminating in the company’s 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, Mr. Khanna was a strategy consultant with the Palladium Group and with the Strategic Advisory Services practice of Ernst & Young (now Capgemini). He serves on the board of directors of the Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization. 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.

Kathryn King, Ph.D.
Sr. Vice President, Clinical and CMC Operations

Kathryn King, Ph.D.Dr. King is senior vice president, clinical and CMC operations at Aptinyx. Prior to joining Aptinyx, she served in senior leadership roles at Levo Therapeutics, AbbVie, Takeda, Veeva Systems, and Abbott, where she was responsible for clinical projects and various global functions. Dr. King teaches courses in the clinical research and regulatory compliance program at the University of Chicago Graham School. She earned a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Notre Dame and later received an M.A. in Health Care Ethics and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Loyola University in Chicago.

Harald Murck, M.D., Ph.D.
Vice President, Clinical & Medical Affairs

Dr. Harald Murck is vice president, clinical & medical affairs at Aptinyx. He has more than 20 years of experience working with both small biotech and large pharmaceutical companies, including Amarin, Novartis, BMS, Axovant, Acorda Therapeutics, PTC Therapeutics, and Sage Therapeutics. He oversaw and was a key contributor to the development of compounds in psychiatric indications (major depression, schizophrenia, central pain disorders, cognitive dysfunction) and movement disorders (Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease). Dr. Murck has extensive experience in early- and late-stage clinical development and has a passion for translational research. He is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist who trained at the Max-Planck-Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany. Dr. Murck has been involved in NMDA-related research since the 1990s. He holds an academic affiliation at the Philipps-University, Marburg, Germany, where he mentors MD students in active research projects and is the author of 85 peer reviewed scientific articles and several book chapters.

Tim Noffke
Vice President, Program Management & Chief of Staff

Mr. Noffke joined Aptinyx in 2021 and currently serves as the vice president of program management and chief of staff at Aptinyx. In his program management role, he is responsible for driving robust program management planning and execution of pipeline projects and other strategically important corporate initiatives. As chief of staff, he serves as an organizer and planner for the CEO and Leadership Team by fulfilling a variety of duties focused on efficient and effective time management, information management, communication, decision-making, strategy development, and goal setting. Prior to joining Aptinyx, Mr. Noffke served in a variety of role of increasing responsibility in research and development and operations program management across the biopharmaceutical industry. His most recent position was global head of program management for the Pfizer Upjohn division. While at Pfizer, he also served as the head of biologics program management focused on delivery of Pfizer’s biosimilars pipeline. Before Pfizer’s acquisition of Hospira, Mr. Noffke served as the head of program management and one of three key leaders of Hospira’s biosimilars business. Before joining Hospira, he spent several years building the Life Sciences practice at Integrated Project Management Company by applying project management leadership to the drug development process for several pharma and biotech companies. Mr. Noffke began his career in operations management in the Consumer Products Division of Procter & Gamble after receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University.

Board of Directors

Norbert G. Riedel, Ph.D.

Executive Chairman of the Board

Patrick Enright

Lead Independent Director
Founder and Managing Director, Longitude Capital

Henry O. Gosebruch

Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, AbbVie Inc.

Terry P. Gould

Partner and Head of Venture / Growth Equity Investments, Adams Street Partners

Robert J. Hombach

Retired CFO, Baxter International Inc. and Baxalta Inc.

Andy Kidd, M.D.

President & CEO, Aptinyx

Adam M. Koppel, M.D., Ph.D.

Managing Director, Bain Capital Life Sciences

Joan W. Miller, M.D.

David Glendenning Cogan Professor of Ophthalmology and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School
Chief of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Massachusetts General Hospital

Gilmore O’Neill, M.B., M.M.Sc.

President & Chief Executive Officer, Editas Medicine

Rachel Sherman, M.D., M.P.H.

Retired Principal Deputy Commissioner of FDA

Scientific Advisory Board

Chadi Abdallah – M.D.

Associate Professor and the Beth K. and Stuart C. Yudofsky Chair in the Neuropsychiatry of Military Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome at Baylor College of Medicine

Lesley Arnold, M.D.

Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience and Director of the Women’s Health Research Program at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Peter LeWitt, M.D.

Professor of Neurology and Sastry Foundation Endowed Chair in Neurology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and Former Director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Program at Henry Ford Hospital

Gerard Sanacora, M.D., Ph.D.

George D. and Esther S. Gross Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, Director of the Yale Depression Research Program, and Co-Director of the Yale New Haven Hospital Interventional Psychiatry Service