CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cognito Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company leading the development of a new class of disease-modifying digital therapeutics to treat neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, announced today the appointment of industry veteran Brent Vaughan as Chief Executive Officer.

Cognito’s non-invasive neuromodulation platform is a next-generation digital therapeutic utilizing visual and auditory stimulation to treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The licensed technology from the Massachusetts Institute of the Technology was originally developed by Edward Boyden, Ph.D., an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology and Professor of Biological Engineering, Media Arts and Sciences, and Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the MIT McGovern Institute and Li-Huei Tsai, Ph.D., Picower Professor of Neuroscience and Director of The Picower Institute of Learning and Memory at MIT.

With more than 20 years of experience, Brent brings to Cognito a proven track record of success developing proprietary technologies and products across multiple domains, including digital therapeutics, medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Prior to Cognito, he was Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Cognoa, an AI-based digital therapeutics company, where he established the company as a leader in digital therapeutics and pediatric behavioral health. Under his leadership, Cognoa was awarded FDA Breakthrough Designation for the first two products for autism and successfully completed the clinical development of the lead product.

“Brent brings the right combination of talent and drive to this key leadership role, having led multiple digital health companies to success,” said Isaac Cheng, M.D., of Morningside Ventures. “Brent’s experience and track record will be invaluable, as Cognito prepares for its next phase of development, with multiple late-stage clinical milestones expected next year.”

“We’re excited to have Brent join Cognito, as we advance development of our proprietary neuromodulation platform for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases,” said Zach Malchano, President of Cognito Therapeutics. “Our team is pioneering the development of neuromodulation devices and disease-modifying digital therapeutics. Clinical and preclinical research has shown multiple effects of neuronal stimulation, such as increased functional connectivity within the brain and a reduction in amyloid plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles, classic hallmarks in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.”

“Cognito’s gamma frequency technology platform holds the potential to create an entirely new class of disease modifying digital therapeutics that provide drug-like effects for neurodegenerative and other chronic indications,” said Brent Vaughan, CEO of Cognito Therapeutics. “I am honored to lead Cognito into the next stage of development, as we advance into registrational studies in Alzheimer’s disease and expand our clinical application to other therapeutic indications, based upon compelling clinical data in humans.”

Brent was previously CEO & Co-Founder of Cognoa and also Co-founder at WellnessFX, both leading digital health companies. Prior to working in digital health, he held leadership positions in business development and product management in therapeutic and medical device companies including Saegis Pharmaceuticals, Nektar Therapeutics, and Roche. He received his M.B.A. from Santa Clara University and a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis.

About Cognito Therapeutics

Cognito Therapeutics is a clinical-stage company leading the development of a new class of disease-modifying digital therapeutics to treat neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease. The company’s licensed proprietary neuromodulation platform technology, developed by scientific founders at MIT, Professors Li-Huei Tsai and Edward Boyden is a non-invasive, neurostimulation therapy utilizing visual and auditory stimulation to treat neurodegenerative diseases. The company is based in Boston and San Francisco. For more information, please visit www.cognitotx.com. Follow us on Twitter at @cognitotx.

About Morningside Ventures

Morningside Group was founded in 1986, by the Chan family of Hong Kong, to make private equity and venture capital investments. The group is managed by investment professionals who are entrepreneurial, have deep industry knowledge and are effective in the local environment in which they operate. In addition to its investment activities, Morningside Group is strongly committed to social responsibility. To learn more, visit www.morningside.com.