Mitsuyuki “Mickey” Matsumoto, PhD

Mickey Matsumoto, Ph.D. is an Operating Partner at Catalys Pacific and the Chief Scientific Officer and Scientific Founder of Arialys Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to joining Arialys, he served at Astellas Pharma Inc. as CNS-STAR Leader, Head of the Neuroscience Research Unit, and Head of the Virtual Venture Unit – Psychiatry.

During his tenure at Astellas, Mickey led neuroscience research spanning target identification, drug discovery, translational research, and early clinical development. Under his leadership, multiple drug candidates for neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders advanced into clinical trials, including three neuropsychiatric programs. He also led numerous international collaborations to pursue a precision medicine approach based on genetics and disease pathophysiology and established an industry-leading platform of genetically engineered rodent models for neuropsychiatric drug discovery.

These research achievements led to his election as a Member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) in 2013, becoming the first industry scientist from a Japanese pharmaceutical company to receive this distinction. He was elected as an ACNP Fellow in 2018. Mickey has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications (H-index > 45) and is an inventor on more than 25 patents. He has served as Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University, Adjunct Research Professor at the University of Southern California, and Visiting Scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Mickey is currently focused on advancing precision medicine approaches that redefine psychiatric disorders based on their underlying biology and disease mechanisms, with the goal of transforming scientific discoveries into therapies that fundamentally improve patients’ lives.

He received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Tokyo.