Glenn Short
Chief Scientific Officer Atai Life Sciences
Glenn became Chief Scientific Officer in 2025, previously serving as Senior Vice President of Early Development since 2022. He leads internal innovation, overseeing early-stage product development and integrating translational medicine into development, and clinical strategies. His recent research focus involves the discovery and development of novel 5-HT2A/2C agonists which lack the subjective effects traditionally associated with psychedelic 5-HT2A agonists.
Glenn has over 20 years of industry and research experience and has been involved in numerous programs that leverage cutting-edge biotechnologies to develop new therapies to address unmet medical needs. He has held multiple senior leadership positions in both venture-backed startup and public companies using his expertise and passion to help drive R&D programs to meaningful proof-of-concept and value-inflection.
Glenn received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia and conducted his postdoctoral training in Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Seminars
- Characterization of 5-HT2A/2C agonists using functional assays capture the pharmacological effects that relate to behavioral modification and translationallyrelevant antidepressive effects
- Embracing concept of “targeted polypharmacology” rather than single-target approaches may allow neural circuit modulation which may be important in depression and substance use disorders
- Integrating circuit-level and behavioral insights into lead optimization strategies of 5-HT2A/2C agonists may help fine-tune polypharmacological modulation of dynamic neural systems
