As we continue to accelerate into our mission to transcend the limits of biology, we are making three new leadership appointments that position us well for what’s ahead. Having this caliber of scientific, medical, and strategic leadership focused on our most critical programs matters enormously as we work to restore, improve, and extend life through neural engineering.
Alan Mardinly, PhD will serve as Chief Scientific Officer
Alan co-founded Science with me in 2021 after serving as Director of Biology at Neuralink, and he has been driving our scientific strategy from day one. As CSO, he’ll continue to lead our biohybrid project while also overseeing our research initiatives in optogenetic therapies and neural interfaces. Alan brings more than 15 years of neuroscience research experience, from his PhD work at Harvard studying synaptic plasticity, to developing holographic optogenetic approaches at UC Berkeley. His ability to move seamlessly between fundamental neuroscience and translational brain-machine interface work has shaped everything we do here. In this new role, Alan will also be responsible for ensuring the overall exceptional quality of the company’s scientific output, consistent with our very high standards. As we grow, and as our projects advance, we are lucky to have Alan’s thoughtful oversight.
Frank Brodie, M.D. will serve as Medical Director for Vision and PRIMA
Frank has been working with us for two years as a consultant, and we are excited to have him now take on this expanded role, effective January 1, 2026. Frank is a vitreoretinal surgeon at UC San Francisco and has been involved with the PRIMA System at multiple points in his career, including working directly on it with its original inventor, Dr. Daniel Palanker, during his postdoc at Stanford in 2018–2019. Frank’s perspective as a practicing surgeon has been invaluable as we’ve moved PRIMA through clinical trials and toward broader patient access. He completed his ophthalmology residency at UCSF and his vitreoretinal surgery fellowship at Duke University, has authored over 40 peer-reviewed publications, and holds numerous patents in ophthalmic technologies.
Darius Shahida will join as Chief Strategy Officer, effective January 5, 2026
Darius has served as Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Business Development Officer at Butterfly Network, a company he helped take public in 2021, and where he led M&A, capital raising, business development, and corporate strategy. While at Butterfly, Darius was responsible for the launch of several of its most transformative businesses, including the company’s AI business, global health business, and the formation of its advanced semiconductor business, Octiv. In 2018, while a student at Harvard Business School, Darius raised $250 million for Butterfly, the largest capital raise in the history of medical imaging. Darius also led and negotiated Butterfly’s $1.5 billion enterprise value merger with Longview Acquisition Corp. and Larry Robbins, which resulted in the public listing of “BFLY” on the NYSE in 2021. Since he joined Butterfly in 2018, Darius has raised over $1 billion in capital. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S from Duke University, where he studied neuroscience and behavioral economics.
Alan and Frank have been instrumental to our work so far, and these new roles formalize the leadership they’ve already been providing as we scale our scientific programs. Darius brings deep experience in strategic growth, capital markets, and building category-defining medical technology companies.
We have a great team. I’m excited for what we can do together.
