About Us

Mr. Martin is Chief Executive Officer of Palladio Biosciences, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing medicines for orphan diseases of the kidney. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Realm Therapeutics (RLM) which was acquired by ESSA Pharma (EPIX) where he now serves as a Director. Mr. Martin was also Chief Operating Officer of Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT), and Chief Finance Officer of BioXell (BXLN) which was acquired by Cosmo Pharmaceuticals (COPN). Mr. Martin began his career at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals where he held roles of increasing responsibility in marketing and business development and later joined Novartis as Vice President, Global Business Development & Licensing. Mr. Martin is currently Chairman of the Board of Veralox Therapeutics, an active coach and mentor to other senior executives, and a guest lecturer at Wharton and Columbia Business School on biotech, entrepreneurship, and raising capital. Mr. Martin holds a BA from Cornell University and an MBA from Harvard.

Lorenzo is the Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Palladio Biosciences. Prior to founding Palladio, Lorenzo was a partner at Care Capital, a leading venture capital firm investing in drug development companies. During his twelve-year tenure at Care Capital, Lorenzo co-founded and served on the board of several portfolio companies, including Minerva Neurosciences (NASDAQ: NERV), Biocritica, and Sentinella Pharmaceuticals, among others. He also led the firm’s investments in Elevation Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Sunovion), Anacor Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer) and Agile Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AGRX). Before joining Care Capital, Lorenzo conducted pre- and post-doctoral research in the Department of Cell Biology at Yale University and at the Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am Main. His original research work was published in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals such as Nature, Cell and Neuron.

Lorenzo received a Laurea in Chemistry, summa cum laude, from the University of Padova, Italy; a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am Main, Germany; and an M.B.A. with honors from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Marella Thorell is Chief Financial Officer of Palladio Biosciences. Ms. Thorell has more than 25 years of experience in executive financial and operational roles and has successfully led multiple M&A, licensing, and fundraising transactions. Most recently, Ms. Thorell served as CFO/COO and an Executive Director of Realm Therapeutics (Nasdaq: RLM), which was acquired by ESSA Pharma (Nasdaq: EPIX) in July 2019, having previously held a number of other senior positions within Realm. Ms. Thorell was appointed a director of ESSA following the acquisition. Ms. Thorell worked at Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB), in several financial and management roles of increasing responsibility. She was an executive consultant focusing on financial and human capital projects. She began her career and earned her CPA qualification with Ernst & Young, LLP. Ms. Thorell earned a BS in Business from Lehigh University, magna cum laude.

Linda brings over 30 years of experience in the health care industry, including biotech, venture capital, advisory services, and large pharma. Linda has focused primarily in the areas of product positioning, business strategy and corporate development.

She was most recently an officer and Vice President of Business Development and Strategy for CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, prior to its acquisition by Eli Lilly. As Executive in Residence at Care Capital, a venture capital firm, Linda sourced and evaluated potential investment opportunities, assisting with the startup of several portfolio companies. In 2006, she formed LLH Associates, LLC, a consulting firm which provides business development and strategic transaction support to clients. During her 20 years with Aventis and its predecessor companies, Linda served in various roles of increasing responsibility in diverse functional areas, becoming Vice President, Global Business Development for Aventis.

Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Linda was Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Director of Drug Information Services for the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy and Kansas University Medical Center. Linda continued as Adjunct Associate Professor Pharmacy Practice and served on the KU School of Pharmacy Advisory Council.

Professional awards include the TWIN (Tribute to Women in Industry) Award and the Donald E. Francke Award from the Drug Information Association. Linda received BS and MS degrees in Pharmacy and Hospital Pharmacy from the University of Kansas and an MBA from Rockhurst College.

Linda is a Life Sciences Council Member of Springboard Enterprises and active with the Licensing Executives Society.

Dr. Neil H. Shusterman is the Chief Medical Officer at Palladio Biosciences. Neil is board certified in internal medicine and nephrology and is a highly experienced drug developer. During his pharmaceutical industry career of over 31 years holding senior senior leadership positions in large, medium, and small companies, Neil contributed to the development or approval of numerous drugs across multiple therapeutic areas, including argatroban injection, Aveed®, Bystolic®, Combunox™, Coreg, Corlopam™, Savella®, Teveten®, Vraylar™, and Xiaflex®. When approved, Coreg was the first new drug approved for heart failure in over 10 years and, in a paradigm shift, established beta blockade as the standard of care for heart failure therapy.

Prior to joining Palladio Biosciences, Neil worked at Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he was the Chief Medical Officer with responsibility for 5 departments – Clinical Development and Operations, Medical Affairs, Drug Safety, Biometrics, and Scientific Communications; at Forest Laboratories, Inc., where he was Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Forest Research Institute with responsibilities for Phase II – IV clinical development for five therapeutic areas – Cardiovascular, Pulmonary, Gastrointestinal/Metabolism, Psychiatry, and Neurology; and at SmithKline Beecham (subsequently GlaxoSmithKline), where he advanced to Vice President, Cardiovascular Therapeutic Area, North American Medical Affairs, Research and Development with worldwide responsibilities for all Phase II – IV cardiovascular drug development. During his tenure at SmithKline Beecham, Neil led the worldwide pivotal efficacy studies and regulatory filing for Coreg (carvedilol), the first beta-blocker approved for the treatment of chronic heart failure (CHF). That approval led to a paradigm-shift in the treatment of CHF, resulting in reduced morbidity and mortality in this devastating condition. In addition, Neil led several large cardiovascular morbidity and mortality studies that recruited 20,000 patients combined at hundreds of sites on 3 continents.

Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, Neil practiced nephrology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA where he was Assistant Professor of Medicine and directed a large outpatient dialysis program. Neil has published and presented widely on topics in renal medicine, cardiovascular therapeutics, and drug development. He earned his undergraduate degree from the Pennsylvania State University and his M.D. from Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA.