Leadership Team

Abe brings nearly two decades of biopharmaceutical industry experience to Rapport. He served as President of Cerevel Therapeutics from May 2021 through February 2023, and was previously CEO of Tiburio Therapeutics, where he built a fully integrated company that led to the investigational new drug enablement for a rare neuroendocrine tumor. Prior to joining Tiburio, Mr. Ceesay held positions including Chief Operating Officer at scPharmaceuticals, Head of Commercial at Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Vice President of Marketing at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, and roles of increasing responsibility at Sanofi, formerly Genzyme. Mr. Ceesay serves as Chairman of the Board for Life Science Cares and on the Board of Trustees at The Museum of Science in Boston. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College and Master of Business Administration from Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Management.

David brings over 20 years of neuroscience drug discovery experience to Rapport. He led groundbreaking research in receptor-associated protein biology at Janssen, where he served as Global Head of Neuroscience Discovery from 2011 through 2021. Prior to joining Janssen he was Vice President of Neuroscience at Eli Lilly and Company from 2004 to 2011. He was professor of physiology at the University of California, San Francisco for ten years. David received his A.B. in Chemistry from Princeton University, and his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins. He was elected to the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars in 2005.

Brad has over 20 years of experience leading and building global drug development and medical affairs teams focused in pain and epilepsy, including as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Zogenix, President of the Pain Group at Nuvo Research, and Senior Medical Officer for Endo Pharmaceuticals. He and his teams provided clinical and scientific leadership for the development and marketing of rare epilepsy and analgesic medications, including Fintepla®, Lidoderm®, Pennsaid®, and Frova®. Prior to joining industry, Dr. Galer held numerous academic and clinical appointments. He has over 150 publications in epilepsy and pain management. Dr. Galer completed his medical doctorate and a neurology residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and two pain fellowships at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the University of California San Francisco and was on faculty at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Cheryl has over 20 years of biopharma industry experience. Her experience includes corporate strategy, corporate and business development, portfolio strategy, new product planning, marketing, sales, launch and commercial strategy in various therapeutic areas including neurology, gastroenterology, rheumatology, and orthopedics. Ms. Gault served as the Chief Operating Officer at Cyclerion Therapeutics where she played a leadership role in delivering clinical data readouts for several novel molecules in large and orphan indications and successfully completing critical transactions to increase shareholder value. Ms. Gault played a central role while at Ironwood in the successful launch of LINZESS^®, the $1B market leader in IBS. Prior to that, she was at Genzyme Corporation in a variety of sales and marketing roles in the biosurgery division, including a leadership role in the launch of Synvisc-ONE, an injectable for the treatment of osteoarthritis. Cheryl brings a unique commercial perspective to our drug development team. She earned a B.S. in marketing from Boston College.

Troy joins Rapport with nearly two decades of financial leadership experience in the biotech and pharmaceuticals sectors. Over the course of his career, Troy has raised an impressive $4 billion-plus in capital for life science companies. Most recently, he was Chief Financial Officer at Karuna Therapeutics, where he led the team in the execution of a private crossover round, the company’s IPO and multiple follow-on financings. Prior to Karuna, Troy served as Chief Financial Officer at two other companies, Juventas Therapeutics and scPharmaceuticals. He has a long track record of experience in the sector, having started out at Eli Lilly and then moving on to roles of increasing responsibility at companies including Esperion Therapeutics and the former Insys Therapeutics. Previously, Troy served on the board of CinCor Pharma, Inc., where he advised on the company’s sale to AstraZeneca in early 2023. He currently serves on the boards of Vedanta Biosciences and Abivax. He is a graduate of Ferris State University, where he earned his B.S. in accounting.

Prior to joining Rapport, Swamy was a founding scientist at Incyte, where he held positions of increasing responsibility for 20 years. He was most recently Group Vice President of Drug Metabolism, Pharmacokinetics, and Clinical Pharmacology. Swamy was a key contributor to the discovery and development of Jakafi®, Pemazyre® & Opzelura®. He is a co-inventor on multiple patents and has published extensively on Incyte pipeline products. Prior to Incyte, Swamy held positions at DuPont Pharmaceuticals and at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Swamy received his bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Madras Medical College and his master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Banaras Hindu University. He received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of British Columbia.

With over 20 years of experience in human resources roles in the biotechnology industry, Kathy has committed her career to building high-performing, heart and soul cultures. She joined Rapport after over a decade at bluebird bio and 2seventy bio where she served as Chief People Officer. At bluebird, Kathy led the development of a unique, people-focused culture to support the build of the company to become a fully integrated global biotech with four approved products. Prior to her time at bluebird, Kathy served in several People and Culture leadership roles including at Adnexus, a Bristol-Meyers Squibb Company and Codon Devices. Kathy earned her B.A. in Sociology from Harvard University.