Glenn Short
CSO 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
