Kevin Church, PhD

Kevin entered a career in the life sciences industry in 2006, and has served as the Chief Scientific Officer at Athira since January 2023. Following completion of his BS in microbiology from the University of Idaho, he began his career in research at the bench for several small biotechnology companies. Following a desire to pursue drug design and development, Kevin completed his PhD in 2016 from the School of Molecular Biosciences at Washington State University, with a focus on molecular pharmacology, and joined Athira in May 2016. He has held several positions at Athira including Senior Research Scientist, Director, Vice President of Discovery and most recently as our Executive Vice President, Research. In his current role, Kevin leads the preclinical research and development teams and is responsible for leading the expansion and development of Athira’s novel platform of small molecule therapeutic candidates, which offers the potential to address a wide range of neurological diseases.