Paul Maruff, PhD

Professor Paul Maruff is one of the founders of Cogstate and served as Chief Science Officer before taking on the role of Chief Innovation Officer. He is a neuropsychologist with expertise in the identification and measurement of subtle behavioural and cognitive dysfunction. Paul’s research integrates conventional and computerized neuropsychological testing with cognitive neuroscientific methods to guide decision making in drug development and in clinical medicine.

He has worked extensively on method to identify subtle neurocognitive impairment, and to assess the efficacy of pharmacological treatment, in Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment and the HIV dementia complex. He has extended this approach to identify cognitive dysfunction, and monitor treatment efficacy in psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression in adults, attention deficit disorder, developmental dyspraxia and substance abuse in children.

Paul remains an active researcher. He is appointed Professor at the Florey Institute for Neuroscience and Mental Health. He is currently clinical co-chair of the Australian Imaging Biomakers and Lifestyle (AIBL) study. Paul has published over 450 research articles in international peer-reviewed scientific journals, and has co-authored 15 book chapters.

Svenja Wacker, PhD

Svenja Wacker, PhD is a bilingual (German/English), licensed clinical neuropsychologist with expertise in global clinical trial management and consultation, as well as extensive experience in hospital-based rehabilitation neuropsychology, neuropsychological assessment and intervention, program development, and medical staff training.

Dr. Wacker graduated from George Mason University with a PhD in clinical psychology and a fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at Yale University School of Medicine. She completed a postdoctoral residency at Harvard Medical School in neuropsychological assessment.

Dr. Wacker has supported a diverse research portfolio in international clinical trials. As a cultural-linguistic expert consultant she contributed to the training, certification, and remediation of site raters and data validation protocols. As Associate Director of Clinician Network with Cogstate, she grew a global expert consultant pool of 150 neuropsychologists, and managed all aspects of recruitment, training, certification, performance monitoring, and operational logistics for their work on a broad portfolio of clinical trials.

In her 15 years of clinical practice, Dr. Wacker focused on the assessment of neuropsychological functioning in adult patients. She aimed to guide clients to a place of personal resilience and empowerment through an array of brain-based therapeutic techniques.

Edward Bartolic, PhD

Edward I. Bartolic, PhD, is Senior Science Director at Cogstate and a clinical neuropsychologist with 20 years of postdoctoral clinical research experience. Nearly 15 of those years have been in various scientific positions within global contract research organizations, including the Director of CNS Research and Scientific Director for the Rater Training Services department at i3 Research and Director of Clinical Assessment Technologies at Worldwide Clinical Trials.

For the past 9 years, in his roles with rater training groups, Dr. Bartolic functioned as clinical/therapeutic lead, providing oversight of the development and management of global rater training and data monitoring/rater surveillance programs for studies in psychiatry and neurology. He has served as lead rater trainer at numerous investigators meetings for studies in indications that include Alzheimer’s disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI)/prodromal AD, multiple sclerosis, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder-mania, bipolar depression, schizophrenia, and generalized anxiety disorder.

He has designed customized methodologies for remote monitoring of clinical trial assessments, including review of source documentation and assessment results for verification of study eligibility criteria during the screening period and confirmation of proper administration and scoring of cognitive and other neurobehavioral assessments. He also has the unique experience of having coordinated and managed two different committees consisting of independent clinical neurologists and geriatric psychiatrists responsible for adjudicating investigator-determined progression to AD endpoints in prodromal AD/MCI trials.

Dr. Bartolic graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and specialization in Neuropsychology. Prior to working in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Bartolic served for five years as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University in Philadelphia (currently known as Drexel University College of Medicine). During that time, he was also the Director of Neuropsychology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital and the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, leading an active inpatient and outpatient clinical service and supervising neuropsychology students, interns and post-doctoral fellows. He has numerous publications and invited presentations in the area of neuropsychological assessment and cognitive disorders.

Robyn Leventhal, PhD

Dr. Robyn Leventhal completed her PhD in Clinical Neuropsychology from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, as well as a Master’s degree at Columbia University in Clinical Psychology. She has worked clinically with diverse populations including pediatric, elderly, oncology, rehabilitative health, and epilepsy. Dr. Leventhal has worked within the pharmaceutical industry in multiple capacities.

As a Study Clinician in Clinical Development she has provided strategic oversight and leadership for clinical trials including protocol design and execution, assessment of subject eligibility, and data analysis. In addition, she has worked within Medical Affairs conducting post-marketing scientific exchange with thought leaders that involved the interpreting and communicating of relevant information to define, update, and support medical strategies.

Dr. Leventhal’s scientific interests include neurocognitive dysfunction in psychiatric disorders, psychophysiological and neurocognitive correlates of impulsivity, executive function in psychopathy, and effects of health and stress on cognition.