Kathie M. Bishop

Kathie M. Bishop, Ph.D. is our Senior Vice President and Head of Rare Disease and External Innovation. Dr. Bishop has more than 20 years of experience in leading translational research and drug development, with a focus on novel therapeutics for the treatment of neurological and rare diseases. Dr. Bishop joined Acadia from LocanaBio, where she served as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and was responsible for research and development for RNA-targeted gene therapies for neurodegenerative and ocular diseases. Prior to LocanaBio, Dr. Bishop was CSO at Otonomy – where she led preclinical and clinical development of a pipeline of neurotology programs – and CSO of Tioga Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, she served in various product development management roles at Ionis Pharmaceuticals including Vice President, Clinical Development where she led translation and development of multiple programs in the neurology franchise including the development and clinical trials for SPINRAZA® (nusinersen), the first approved treatment for patients with spinal muscular atrophy and winner of the 2017 Prix Galien Award for Biotechnology. Dr. Bishop also served in research and development leadership roles at Ceregene, a company focused on the development of AAV-based gene therapy products for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. She conducted post-doctoral work at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla and obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Alberta.