Management Team
Mr Thomas Mathers
Vice Chairman
Tom Mathers joined Certa Therapeutics as Vice Chairman in 2025.
Tom is a partner at Pappas Capital and has more than 30 years of executive management experience in the life science and medical device industries. He operates out of Boston and focuses primarily on company formation. Tom currently serves as the Executive Chairman of the Board for Aer Therapeutics, Inc., a Pappas Ventures VI portfolio company. He also serves as Treasurer and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), where he is active in the areas of advocacy, regulatory policy, capital formation, bioethics and intellectual property policy.
In 2019, Tom founded Allievex Corp., a Pappas Ventures V portfolio company, and served as its President and CEO, as well as a director, until its acquisition in 2024. Prior to Allievex, He was the President and CEO of CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCD), a Pappas Ventures III founded company, which focused on the development of lasmiditan for the acute treatment of migraine headaches. Eli Lilly & Company acquired CoLucid in 2017 in an all-cash transaction worth nearly $1 billion. Prior to CoLucid, Tom was President and CEO of Peptimmune, Inc.; President and CEO of Cell Based Delivery, Inc.; Vice President and General Manager of Cardion AG; and Vice President of Strategic Development at Genzyme Corporation.
Tom is also a Member of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses (RACGWVI). From 1988 to 1991, Tom served as a captain in the United States Army and was awarded several medals for his services as an AH-64 Apache helicopter pilot in the Gulf War.
Dr Michelle Papadimitriou
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
Michelle Papadimitriou joined Certa Therapeutics as a Research and Commercialisation Associate in 2018. She has been Research and Development Director since 2022.
Michelle has more than 5 years of experience in drug development, managing pre-clinical efficacy, safety, and toxicology studies to progress drug candidates to Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials. She also has more than 15 years of experience in biomedical research.
Concurrent to this role, Michelle was Head of Research and Development with OccuRx (2020-2024).
Michelle has a PhD from the University of Melbourne in immunogenetics and has completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Centre for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (Germany).
Dr Simona Carbone
DIRECTOR OF BD AND OPERATIONS
Simona Carbone joined Certa Therapeutics as Program Manager in 2024. She has been Director of Business Development and Operations since 2026.
Simona has more than 15 years of experience in biomedical research in the field of neurogastroenternology. She holds a concurrent role as Senior Research Fellow at Monash University (Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences), where she leads an industry-facing research laboratory. Simona’s research laboratory receives funding from industry, government, and philanthropic sources. Simona brings to Certa Therapeutics her expertise in external relationships management with academics, clinicians, and industry professionals.
In addition, Simona holds consultancy roles with international biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. She is producer and host of ‘The Lead Candidate,’ a podcast aimed at understanding what makes for a great leader in science.
Dr Eric Zanelli
R&D Consultant
Eric Zanelli began consulting for Certa Therapeutics in 2025. He contributes to the design and implementation of preclinical and clinical R&D activities.
Eric has 25 years of executive experience in the biotechnology industry. He co-founded Allievex Corp. and was its Head of Research until 2024. He was responsible for all nonclinical and translational medicine aspects of the projects; he was the principal analyst and writer for most of the documents submitted to the FDA. Prior to the founding of Allievex, Eric served as Senior Scientific Advisor at CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCD), where he focused on the development of lasmiditan for the acute treatment of migraine headaches. He has also served in senior scientific management roles at Peptimmune Inc., Praecis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Cardion AG. Additionally, Eric was the Scientific Founder of Déclion Holdings LLC, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. He is the co-author of 52 peer-reviewed scientific articles and a co-inventor or sole inventor of 12 families of granted or pending patent applications.
Prior to his industry roles, Eric was a Senior Investigator at the Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands, from 1996 to 2000 and a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Immunology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN, from 1992 to 1996.