About Us

Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer Charles Cathlin, an engineer & graduate of the Air Force Academy & Stanford University, served in the US Air Force until his retirement in May of 2018, after completing twenty-three years in uniform. Charles also served as Chief of Staff of the Defense & Veterans Brain Injury Center, & as Chief of Neurology Devices at the FDA. Prior to Polaris Genomics, he also co-founded a global medical device consulting company. Motivated by his work with first responders at Ground Zero after 9/11, Charles is dedicated to improving people’s lives by charting the course in precision mental health.

Dr. Anne Naclerio, Chief Medical Officer, is a graduate of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences & George Washington University. An authority on the unique experiences of women in the military, Anne co-authored the seminal book “Women at War”. She served for 30 years in the US Army before retiring in 2019, & also served as Chief Surgeon for the Army National Guard. Motivated by the impacts of trauma while deployed in Iraq, Anne is dedicated to advancing mental health care by mapping molecular biomarkers for neuropsychiatric conditions and novel drug development.

Chief Scientist Nikolaos P. Daskalakis, MD, PhD, is a renowned stress neuroscientist known for advancing Systems Biology of PTSD. As professor at Boston University’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Department of Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics with a secondary appointment in the Department of Medicine – Biomedical Genetics Section, some of Dr. Daskalakis’s collaborations include the VA’s National Center for PTSD and Broad Institute, the Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering at BU, and MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

As former associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and McLean and Harvard Medical School’s Neurogenomics and Translational Bioinformatics laboratory director, Dr. Daskalakis developed a pioneering research program at the intersection of psychiatry, genomics, and systems biology, exploring how stress, trauma, and genetics shape brain function and mental health. His labs use transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling of brain and blood samples to identify cell and gene networks associated with vulnerability and resilience to PTSD. Moreover, his labs are known for their integrative approach—combining molecular, computational, and translational methods to advance our understanding of stress-related disorders.

Dr. Daskalakis received his MD from the University of Athens, his PhD in neuropsychopharmacology from Leiden University, and completed post-doctoral research fellowships in clinical neuroendocrinology at Leiden University and in systems biology at the Icahn School of Medicine. Review Dr. Daskalakis’ publications here.

Co-founder & Director of Research & Development Dr. Tshaka Cunningham, a graduate of Princeton University, received his PhD in molecular biology from Rockefeller University & completed his postdoctoral training at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France. A leading voice in advocating for diversity & representation in the field of genomics, Tshaka is also a volunteer leader of non-profit STEM youth programming for underserved communities. He previously worked at the VA headquarters overseeing a large neurodegenerative disease research program, & also served as a subject matter expert for the VA’s Genomic Medicine Implementation Program. Motivated by the timely need for advancements in precision medicine while at the VA, Tshaka is dedicated to improving people’s lives through the power of genomics.

Noted by Modern Healthcare as one of the “Hundred Most Influential People in American Healthcare,” the Honorable Dr. David J. Shulkin is an entrepreneur and board certified internist who served as the ninth Secretary of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the VA’s Under Secretary of Health. Secretary Shulkin is the only member of the Cabinet to have served both President Trump and President Obama, and was confirmed by the US Senate by a vote of 100-0.

While chief executive of leading hospitals and health systems in the U.S., he also has held numerous physician leadership roles, and academic positions including chairman of medicine and vice dean at Drexel University School of Medicine.

Secretary Shulkin continues to work with healthcare organizations leading the transformation of medicine around the world and he advocates on behalf of the country’s veterans across several boards, as host to the Policy Vets Podcast and having authored the book, “It Shouldn’t Be This Hard to Serve Your Country: Our Broken Government and the Plight of Veterans.”

Known for his discoveries about the connections between stress, depression, anxiety, & sleep disorders, Dr. Florian Holsboer is an internationally-renowned depression researcher & one of the most cited scientists worldwide, having authored or co-authored more than 1200 scientific publications. A pioneer of personalized depression therapy, which integrates laboratory diagnostics to optimize individual depression treatment plans, Dr. Holsboer has received numerous awards and honorary doctorates. After 25 years at the helm of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, he left in 2014 to become CEO of the biopharmaceutical company HMNC Brain Health. As of January 2021, he is a member of the Supervisory Board of HMNC Holding GmbH & chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board.

An internationally-recognized expert on the cognitive & neural basis of Alzheimer’s disease & TBI, Dr. Maheen Mausoof Adamson (VA) serves as clinical senior scientific research director at Rehabilitation Service at VAPAHCS and leads several federally-funded studies (DOD, NIA/NIH, & VA) investigating neuroimaging, genetics, proteomics, & behavioral performance in the rehabilitation of older adults & veterans with post-deployment health concerns. Dr. Adamson has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications & served as former senior editor of Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease & co-editor of Frontiers in Neurology: TBI. She also has served as program committee member of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, director for research at the War Related Illness & Injury Center (WRIISC), & director of research for the Defense & Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC).

Hans Cobben is a serial entrepreneur, seasoned executive, investor & enabler for startups, & cofounder of a number of globally successful companies in the (bio)technology domain. Most recently, he was vice president of software solutions & platforms at Illumina, managing Illumina’s data strategy & global software product development teams. Mr. Cobben joined Illumina after the company acquired BlueBee, which he co-founded & where he was CEO in 2020. Before BlueBee, he founded & exited several globally successful startups & has held senior executive roles at Alcatel, SunGard, & SWIFT. Mr. Cobben currently acts as a board member & adviser to scale-ups, venture capital, & private equity funds.

Dr. Pardis Sabeti is a computational biologist, medical geneticist, and evolutionary geneticist, Dr. Sabeti is a core institute member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. In 2014, Sabeti was named a TIME magazine “Person of the Year” as one of the Ebola fighters and in 2015 as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People, and in 2022 she received a TIME Impact award. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. Her recognition and awards also include World Economic Forum (WEF) Young Global Leader, National Geographic Emerging Explorer, the 2012 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for Natural Science, and the NIH Innovator Award. She has served on the MIT Board of Trustees and the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Women in Science, Medicine, and Engineering.