Benzinga | Jul 29, 2021 08:33AM EDT

COMPASS Pathways Names Guy Goodwin As CMO

COMPASS Pathways plc (NASDAQ:CMPS) ("COMPASS"), a mental health care company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health, announced that it has appointed eminent psychiatrist, Professor Guy Goodwin FMedSci, as Chief Medical Officer.

Guy Goodwin is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at The University of Oxford. He was formerly WA Handley Chair of Psychiatry and Head of the University's Department of Psychiatry. His research interests have long been in the treatment of mood disorder and the application of neuroscience and technology in understanding its neurobiology, with a focus on developing new treatments.

Professor Goodwin is a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and former President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology and of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He is also an Emeritus Senior Investigator on the faculty of the UK National Institute for Health Research, and a Thomson Reuters highly cited researcher (top 1% in field). He is currently Medical Director at P1vital, a clinical research and healthcare organisation.

Professor Goodwin said: "I have been working with COMPASS in an advisory capacity since the beginning of the phase IIb clinical trial of psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression. I am now delighted to be taking a more active role in bringing this innovative therapy to patients who desperately need new options in psychiatry."

COMPASS also announced that Piers Morgan, Chief Financial Officer, will be leaving towards the end of 2021, to take up a new position in CellCentric, a clinical stage oncology company.

George Goldsmith, CEO and Co-founder, COMPASS Pathways, said: "Guy Goodwin is a deeply experienced psychiatrist, an outstanding leader in the field who is wholly committed to patient care. We are so pleased to welcome him to the team and look forward to working together to transform mental health care for patients."

George added: "Piers Morgan has been a tremendous CFO for COMPASS. He led our successful IPO last year and follow-on raise earlier this year, and helped us to build a strong finance function as we transitioned to life as a public company. We will miss him enormously and wish him well as he moves on to help another company, towards the end of the year. A new CFO will be appointed and announced in due course."