Michela Gallagher

Michela Gallagher, Ph.D. founded AgeneBio in 2008 and currently serves as CEO. Her research led to the discovery of neural overactivity in neurocognitive aging localized to specific circuits in the hippocampus. She led the Phase 2 trial of AGB101 and the initiation of AgeneBio’s drug discovery program to develop selective GABA alpha 5 positive allosteric modulators.

Michela Gallagher, Ph.D. is the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Psychological and Brain Science, heads the Neurogenetics and Behavior Center at Johns Hopkins University, and has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers in the field of cognitive neuroscience. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychological Society. She is the 2018 recipient of the Melvin R. Goodes Prize for a lifelong commitment to Alzheimer’s drug discovery and development. She was the 2014 recipient of the Society for Neuroscience, Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award. Her work has been recognized by the American Psychological Association, D.O. Hebb Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in 2010, a Freedom to Discover Award from the Bristol-Myers Foundation (2003-2008), and Senior Scientist Award from the Ellison Medical Foundation (2008-2012). She has served the on Boards of Scientific Counselors at the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Aging, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Stanley Center at the Broad Institute, and the Advisory Board of DZNE, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins in 1997, Dr. Gallagher rose through the faculty ranks at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was the Kenan Professor of Psychology. She earned her Ph.D. in Physiological Psychology from the University of Vermont and in 1968 earned her undergraduate degree from Colgate University as one of two women in the university’s first female graduating class.