Steve Brannan, M.D.

Steve Brannan, M.D.

Chief Medical Advisor

Steve is Chief Medical Advisor to Syndeio Biosciences. He is currently Chief Medical Officer at Karuna Pharmaceuticals and is a neuroscience drug development expert who has held senior positions overseeing both clinical development and medical affairs with more than 15 years of industry experience. 

Previously, Steve was the Therapeutic Head of Neuroscience at Takeda and Vice President for Clinical Research and Medical Affairs at Forum Pharmaceuticals. Steve has been active in the development of multiple important central nervous system treatments including Cymbalta, Exelon Patch, Trintellix, and VNS for treatment-resistant depression while holding various senior roles at Forum, Takeda, Novartis, Cyberonics, and Eli Lilly. His experience includes drug development, registration, medical affairs, launch, and lifecycle management across psychiatry and neurology.

Steve is a board-certified physician and is a member of several scientific societies and groups, including ISCTM, ISCDD, AARR, IOM Neuroforum, and CNS Summit (founding member). Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, he worked on the faculty at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) where he specialized in seeing mood and anxiety disorder patients, ran a clinical research unit, and performed neuroimaging research at the Research Imaging Center.  Steve trained in psychiatry at UTHSCSA and holds an M.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas (Southwestern Medical School). He has over 40 publications and routinely gives invited talks and presentation at industry conferences.