CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Voyager Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing life-changing treatments for severe diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), today announced the appointment of Steven Hyman, M.D., to its board of directors. Dr. Hyman is a renowned leader in neuroscience with more than 20 years of scientific leadership experience.
"We are excited to welcome Steve to Voyager's board of directors," said Steven Paul, M.D., president and CEO of Voyager Therapeutics. "He is an extraordinary scientific leader whose expertise in neuroscience and passion for advancing new medicines will be invaluable as Voyager develops its pipeline of gene therapies for patients with severe CNS diseases."
Dr. Hyman has served as director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT and as a Core Faculty Member of the Broad Institute since 2012. He has served as a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology since 2011. From 2001 to 2011, he served as Provost of Harvard University, the University's chief academic officer. From 1996 to 2001, he served as director of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, where he emphasized investment in neuroscience and emerging genetic technologies. Dr. Hyman is the editor of the Annual Review of Neuroscience and President of the Society for Neuroscience (2015). He was elected to the Institute of Medicine, renamed the National Academy of Medicine, in 2000, where he currently serves on the governing Council, the Board of Health Science Policy, and chairs the Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders, which brings together industry, government, academia, patient groups, and foundations. He was founding President of the International Neuroethics Society, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Hyman received a B.A. from Yale College, an M.A. from the University of Cambridge, which he attended as a Mellon fellow, and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.
"I am very enthusiastic about joining the Voyager Board," said Steven Hyman. "I am impressed by the company's commitment to marshaling its scientific resources in the service of developing important potential treatments for severe and often lethal disorders of the nervous system."
About Voyager Therapeutics
Voyager Therapeutics is a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing life-changing treatments for severe diseases of the central nervous system. Voyager is committed to advancing the field of AAV (adeno-associated virus) gene therapy through innovation and investment in vector engineering and optimization, manufacturing and dosing and delivery techniques. The company's pipeline is focused on severe CNS diseases in need of effective new therapies, including advanced Parkinson's disease, a monogenic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Friedreich's ataxia and Huntington's disease. Voyager has broad strategic collaborations with Genzyme Corporation, a Sanofi company, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Founded by scientific and clinical leaders in the fields of AAV gene therapy, expressed RNA interference and neuroscience, Voyager Therapeutics was launched in 2014 with funding from leading life sciences investor Third Rock Ventures, and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit www.voyagertherapeutics.com. Follow Voyager on LinkedIn.