Howard has served as CEO since March 2020.  Prior to joining PaxMedica, he has been a founder and chief executive of several specialty pharma and medical device companies.  Most recently, he was Executive Chairman and co-founder of Sofregen, a biotech company developing novel soft tissue regenerating products for reconstructive plastic surgery.

He also served as CEO and President of Seventh Sense Biosystems, a medical device development company that created the first painless blood sampling tool for clinical diagnostics.  Howard was the founder, Chairman and CEO of EKR Therapeutics, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on critical care medicine and now part of Chiesi USA.   Prior to that, he was the founder, COO and Director of ESP Pharma, a company focused on cardio and neurovascular products until its sale to PDL Biopharma. Howard began his career in the pharmaceutical industry in various sales and marketing positions at both Merck and Pfizer (formerly Warner-Lambert) and has a BA in chemistry from Rutgers University.