Management Team

Dr. Kranzler joined our Board of Directors in February 2017 and became Chairman in March 2023.  Dr. Kranzler has been a Founder, CEO, Board Member, and Advisor to leading life science companies for over 30 years. He is currently acting as Chief Executive Officer of Regenovation, a regenerative medicine company, and is a Board Member of Methylation Sciences, Pastorus, and ImmunoBrain Checkpoint, all companies focused on developing therapeutics for psychiatric or neurological disorders. Dr. Kranzler started his career at McKinsey & Company where he established the Firm’s pharmaceutical practice. He served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cytel Corporation, a company focused on the development of immunomodulatory drugs. Following Cytel, Dr. Kranzler became the CEO of Cypress Bioscience, where he was credited for the development of Savella™ (milnacipran) for the treatment of fibromyalgia. Dr. Kranzler was also Vice President, Head of External R&D Innovation and Worldwide R&D Strategic Investments at Pfizer. During his career, Dr. Kranzler has developed drugs, medical devices, as well as diagnostics, and is the inventor on over 30 patents. Dr. Kranzler graduated from Yale University School of Medicine with MD and PhD degrees with a focus in psychopharmacology.

Dr. Alix MacLean was appointed as Avenue’s Chief Executive Officer in August 2022 and became a member of the Board of Directors in March 2023. She was previously an Entrepreneur in Residence at Fortress Biotech. She has a broad background in business development investments in multiple therapeutic areas in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Previously she served as General Partner and Principal at TVM Capital, an international life sciences venture capital firm. Prior to this she was Head of Licensing and Business Development at Imbrium Therapeutics and before that held medical affairs and business development roles at Purdue Pharma. Dr. MacLean also held leadership roles in the medical device industry with Plasma Surgical and Covidien. She began her career in the pharmaceutical industry at Merck & Co. in cardiovascular clinical development.

Alix received a B.Sc. in Physiology from McGill University and an M.D. from Columbia University. She completed her residency in general surgery at NYU Medical Center, fellowships in Trauma Surgery and Critical Care at the University of Miami Medical Center and vascular surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She also holds a M.Phil. from Cambridge University and an MBA from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder. 

Mr. Jin was appointed as Avenue’s Interim Chief Financial Officer in May 2022. He previously served as Avenue’s Interim Chief Executive Officer from March 2022 through August 2022. He also serves as Chief Financial Officer and Head of Corporate Development at Fortress Biotech (an affiliate of Avenue). Previously, he was on the investment team in the Private Equity & Real Assets group at Barings, Director of Corporate Development at Sorrento Therapeutics, Vice President of Healthcare Investment Banking at FBR & Co., and was in the management consulting group at IMS Health (now IQVIA). He holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering & Management Sciences with a double-major in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences from Northwestern University.

Dr. Reines has served as our Interim Chief Medical Officer since January 2016. Dr. Reines has led the clinical development of important new drugs in five different therapeutic areas. As Senior Vice President for CNS, Pain, and Translational Medicine at Johnson & Johnson, he oversaw the development and approval of INVEGA and INVEGA SUSTENNA for schizophrenia, NUCYNTA for moderate to severe pain, REMINYL ER for Alzheimer’s disease, RISPERDAL CONSTA for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, RISPERDAL for treatment of the autism, and TOPAMAX for prevention of migraine and seizures. At J&J he was responsible for all CNS and Pain products, as well as for Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics, and was a member of the J&J Pharmaceutical R&D Board of Directors.

Previously, Scott was Vice President, Clinical Research at Merck, with responsibilities for Psychopharmacology, Neuropharmacology, Gastroenterology, and Ophthalmology. There he led the development of EMEND for prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, MAXALT for treatment of migraine headache, SINEMET-CR for Parkinson’s disease, and TRUSOPT, COSOPT, and TIMOPTIC-XE for prevention of glaucoma.

Currently Dr. Reines consults for biotech, pharmaceutical, and venture firms, is a member of two Scientific Advisory Boards, and Chair of a Data Safety Monitoring Board. He is also a member of two non-profit boards, serving as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of KidsPeace, a large children’s psychiatric healthcare provider, and as a member of the Board of Directors of Heritage Conservancy, which is directed toward land preservation.

Dr. Reines also served for two years as co-chair of the Neuroscience Steering Committee, Foundation for NIH Biomarkers Consortium, and spent five years on the National Drug Abuse Advisory Council. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Cornell University, a PhD in chemistry/molecular biology from Columbia University, and an MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is Board Certified in Psychiatry and Neurology.

Mr. Ryan has served as Vice President of Clinical Operations and Program Management since September of 2018. From 2012 to 2018, Mr. Ryan served as Executive Director of Project Management at Fortress Biotech, Inc. overseeing clinical programs in autoimmune diseases including psoriasis and autism.  Prior to joining Fortress, Mr. Ryan worked at Indevus Pharmaceuticals and Endo Pharmaceuticals in clinical project management. Mr. Ryan obtained a B.A from Providence College and M.S. from Northeastern University.