TONIX Pharmaceuticals Strengthens Management Team with the Appointments of Its New Chief Financial Officer and Senior Director of Drug Development

Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. (“TONIX” or the “Company”), a specialty pharmaceutical company developing therapies for challenging disorders of the central nervous system (“CNS”), including fibromyalgia syndrome (“FM”) and post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”), has appointed Leland J. Gershell, M.D., Ph.D. as Chief Financial Officer and Bruce L. Daugherty, Ph.D., M.B.A. as Senior Director of Drug Development. Benjamin Selzer, who served as interim Chief Financial Officer, will continue as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer. 

Dr. Gershell, age 39, most recently served as Managing Director and Senior Analyst at Madison Williams and Company, where he provided research on specialty pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Dr. Gershell began his equity research career at Cowen and Company, and has also held analyst positions at Apothecary Capital, a pharmaceutical and biotech-focused investment fund, and at Favus Institutional Research, a boutique research firm that caters to institutional investors. Dr. Gershell’s prior industry experience includes affiliations with Targent Pharmaceuticals, where he facilitated capital raising, and with Vela Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for the evaluation of pharmaceutical assets for in-licensing. He earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Columbia University and his B.A. magna cum laude in Chemistry and Asian Studies from Dartmouth College. Dr. Gershell is an inventor on Columbia’s patents for SAHA/vorinostat, which is marketed by Merck as Zolinza® and is the first histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor to receive FDA approval.