Alex Goddard, PhD

Alex Goddard is the Director at the McQuade Center for Strategic Research and Development, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Companies (U.S.). Alex brings a wealth of experience in strategy and execution. He has worked to progress therapeutics spanning pharmaceutical, device, and digital health approaches. His areas of scientific expertise include neuron-immune interactions, neurological and psychiatric disease, and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria.

He started his industry career at Novartis in Neuroscience drug discovery. He then was head of research at Tal Medical, a small company developing a medical device for the treatment of depression. Following the closure of Tal, he was head of research for AOBiome, a microbiological therapeutics company focused on treatments for dermatologic disease. He joined Takeda in late 2019 before joining the McQuade Center for Strategic Research and Development at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Companies (U.S.) in 2023.

Dr. Goddard received bachelor’s degrees in Neuroscience and in Biochemistry from Oberlin College, his Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Harvard University, and did his postdoctoral work at Stanford University. He has authored numerous scientific publications.