New CEO brings strategic vision to Houston co. advancing neurodegenerative disease treatments

Q&A

Coya Therapeutics appoints a new CEO to lead its innovative Alzheimer's treatment development efforts. Photo via LinkedIn

Coya Therapeutics has named a new CEO. As of Nov. 1, Arun Swaminathan replaced Co-founder Howard Berman in the role. Berman has assumed the title of executive chairman, in which he will still remain active with the company.

Swaminathan started with Coya two years ago as chief business officer. This transition was planned, says the PhD-holding scientist and businessman.

“(Berman's) intent was that it was the right time to put in place a CEO that, as we move into the operational phases of the company, that can take the reins from him,” he tells InnovationMap.

Coya Therapeutics is a publicly traded biotechnology company that is working on two novel treatments for Alzheimer's disease. Coya's therapeutics, which are currently in trials, use regulatory T cells (T regs) to target both systemic- and neuroinflammation in patients.

InnovationMap: Berman has been a very visible CEO. Will you follow suit?

Arun Swaminathan: I think it's part of the CEO’s job to be visible and to communicate the value of our company to all the stakeholders out there. So yes, I do plan to be visible as well. Obviously, Howard as the founder had elements that he talked about, the foundational stories. I obviously will be doing less of that.

IM: What was your journey from the lab to the boardroom?

AS: I have a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. I like to say that I grew up at Bristol Myers Squibb, so I started in a clinical pharmacology group at BMS, running clinical trials, but in the cardiovascular and metabolic space.

What happened was, as I was the study director on a diabetes trial there, and the data starts coming in for these early diabetic trials, and I got highly involved with the commercial folks at BMS in starting to plan out “What does the target profile look like? How is this going to play out in the real world?” You know, the marketing teams and commercial teams start engaging when clinical data is available, because they're starting to plan for the eventual launch of the product.

That gave me a lot of exposure to the commercial side of things, and I also got a lot of experience presenting to opinion leaders and others through that role. And I said, “What I really love is that intersection between science and business.” And so I think that was my moment.

Then I moved to business development and licensing, where I helped scan the universe for assets and talk to CEOs of companies like Coya as a junior person, trying to understand if there's something that we can bring into BMS to strengthen the pipeline of BMS. So that gave me exposure to deals, how deals are structured, how you negotiate a lot of that kind of stuff.

Then I said, “Look, if I want to be a complete person in biotech, I do need to go into more true commercial roles.” So I went into commercial strategy. I was involved in the commercial strategy for what is now known as Eliquis. Was back then known as apixaban. That’s still the generic name.

Then I led marketing for Orencia, a rheumatoid arthritis drug. So I went and got both strategic and tactical marketing experience at BMS, and then I used all of that experience, rounded up. I eventually ended up co-founding a company, and that's led me to the last nine years with smaller biotech companies. So that's my evolution and path. But I think my true moment of realization was about three years into my clinical role at BMS, when I said, what I really enjoy is translating good science into commercial value, and I think that's what excites me.

IM: Why is Houston an important part of Coya's success?

AS: It is important that Coya stays in Houston, because we have a very close association with Houston Methodist, we get a lot of our work, our early research work still done through Houston Methodist, through Dr. [Stanley] Appel's lab and through other experts. We absolutely have a special research agreement with Houston Methodist, so we have a very strong reason to be in Houston. So, we do not anticipate moving out of Houston.

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This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

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Coya Therapeutics rang the closing bell at Nasdaq last week, celebrating six months since its IPO, new data from trials, and additions to its team. Photo via LinkedIn

Houston company with revolutionary neurodegenerative disease treatment shares milestones since IPO

ring that bell

After announcing its initial public offering earlier this year, a Houston therapeutics company has celebrated the milestone and announced recent growth as well.

Coya Therapeutics (Nasdaq: COYA) rang the closing bell last week. The clinical-stage biotech company, which has developed a biologics therapy that prevents further spreading of neurodegenerative diseases by making regulatory T cells functional again, announced the closing of its $15.25 million IPO in January.

"We launched our IPO into one of the toughest biotech capital markets in recent memory and are enormously grateful to all our investors for the confidence they then showed in our prospects," says Howard Berman, CEO and chairman of Coya, in a June 12 letter to stockholders. "I believe that to date, we’ve executed strongly against the goals we then established, and I remain excited about our future."

In the letter, Berman shares some of the recent clinical successes from two treatments — COYA 302, a treatment for ALS, and COYA 301, a treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease. Both treatments have seen strong clinical proof of concept data in the respective open-label studies.

Earlier this year, Coya expanded its C-suite to include Dr. Arun Swaminathan as chief business officer. He has over 20 years of hands-on health care business executive experience. Prior to Coya, Swaminathan served in the same role for Actinium Pharmaceuticals.

"Arun is actively engaged in exploring potential strategic opportunities across our portfolio of assets as we believe successful partnering efforts have the potential to enhance our scientific bona fides, leverage our technology into new areas of unmet medical need, and importantly, possibly secure upfront fees and associated non-dilutive funding," Berman writes in the letter. "We look forward to pursuing additional value creation catalysts that further highlight our entrepreneurialism and ability to execute, while maintaining focus on our core assets."

The latest addition to the Coya team is Guillaume Dorothée, who joins the company's scientific advisory board. A leading expert on the role that the immune system and peripheral-central immune crosstalk play in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's, he's a tenured research director and team head in neuroimmunology at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris.

“I am glad and honored to join such eminent scientists on the prestigious SAB of Coya Therapeutics," he says in a June 5 statement from Coya. "I am fully convinced that innovative Treg-based immunomodulatory approaches, as developed by Coya, are highly promising therapeutic strategies for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders and other neuroinflammatory conditions. I will be happy to help Coya Therapeutics in this exciting endeavor.”

Recently, Berman joined the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss Coya's mission and plan post IPO.


For Howard Berman, CEO and co-founder of Coya Therapeutics, commercializing his company is personal. Photo courtesy of Coya

Why this Houston innovator is racing to commercialize its unique treatment for neurodegenerative diseases

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 182

When Howard Berman sought out renowned Houston Methodist researcher and neurologist Dr. Stanley Appel, he was looking for treatment for his father, who was suffering from dementia. He wasn't looking for a job, but Dr. Appel had other ideas and asked Berman to meet with him.

"I was interested in what I could do for my dad," Berman says on the Houston Innovators Podcast, explaining how he took the meeting with Dr. Appel, who then presented him with some of his research. "By slide five my jaw had hit the ground.

"He had shown that he could stop the progression in one of his early trials of ALS," Berman says.

Not too long after that meeting, Berman, who founded digital health platform imaware, joined Dr. Appel to lead commercialization of Coya Therapeutics, a biotech startup that raised over $20 million in venture funding before going public a few months ago.

Coya has developed a biologics therapy that prevents further spreading of neurodegenerative diseases by making regulatory T cells functional again. Diseases like ALS, the company's focus right now, prevent T-regs from doing their job in controlling inflammation, and without these cells hard at work, the human body doesn't stand a chance in fighting autoimmune threats.

Berman, as co-founder and CEO, has been at the helm of the company leading it through both the fundraising and IPO processes. Coya's IPO occured in a tough market — only 12 biotech companies went public last year, he explains. To Berman, that just proves how passionate the team was about getting this product to those who need it.

"It really says something for the fortitude and our team to come together to make it happen," he says on the show. "We're able to deliver and execute in a difficult market climate.

"Once you're a public company, you have different expectations," he continues. "But you also have the opportunity to go out and attract additional investors in ways you can't do as a private company."

For Berman, whose father passed away earlier this year, it's a personal motivation that drives him to lead the company — as well as an opportunity to advance the city of Houston.

"The next number of years as we develop this therapeutic regimen for ALS, we have the potential to transform Houston into something more than it is currently," he says. "Our success will be the city's success."

Berman shares more of the Coya Therapeutics story on the podcast, as well as how he sees Houston's potential as an emerging hub for biotech. Listen to the interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.


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Rice lands $15M U.S. Army award to launch next-gen wireless research center

defense funding

The U.S. Army Research Office has awarded Rice University $15 million to establish a new center for next-generation sensing and communications.

The five-year research center—dubbed the Center for Large Aperture Secure Sensing, Imaging and Communications (CLASSIC)—will unite researchers from universities and national laboratories to develop advanced antenna technologies for future wireless systems. Edward Knightly, the Sheafor-Lindsay Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice, will lead the center that “combines expertise in wireless networking, antennas, radar, artificial intelligence, circuits and physics to address growing demands on wireless systems,” according to Rice.

“The challenges we’re tackling require advances that span physics, hardware, communications and computing," Knightly said in a news release. “By combining those strengths in a single center, we can accelerate the development and demonstration of technologies that would not be possible through individual efforts alone.”

Joining Knightly will be Ashutosh Sabharwal of Rice, Sensen Li of the University of Texas at Austin, Hou-Tong Chen of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Danijela Cabric of UCLA, Josep M. Jornet and Tommaso Melodia of Northeastern University, Daniel M. Mittleman of Brown University, and Willie Padilla of Duke University.

Industry partners include Booz Allen Hamilton, Intel, Keysight, Lockheed Martin, MITRE, Northrop Grumman, Qualcomm and Raytheon.

CLASSIC researchers will investigate how large-scale antenna arrays (ELSAAs) can expand the capabilities of wireless systems where technology is limited.

ELSAAs use thousands of coordinated antenna elements to direct radio waves. Researchers aim to develop ways to use the technology to help maintain steady communication when signals are blocked or disrupted and to detect and generate detailed images of concealed objects.

Along with ELSAAs, the center will work to develop sensing techniques for threat detection, study wireless jamming and build resilient high-speed wireless networks. Researchers will ultimately validate the technology in labs and via drone-based field trials.

CLASSIC will also work on developing an AI-driven modeling framework that will simulate complex electromagnetic environments in real time.

“This award demonstrates Rice’s leadership in tackling complex national research challenges through collaboration across disciplines and institutions,” David Sholl, executive vice president for research at Rice, added in the release.

UH scores $18M NIH grant for chronic disease research

research funding

The University of Houston has received a coveted $18.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to launch a program to address the root causes of chronic disease.

Only 22 institutions nationwide receive this NIH award, and the 5-year process aligns with the newly established UH Health’s mission to expand healthcare innovations in Texas and beyond. The initiative will be housed in the UH Population Health department.

"This generous funding allows us to directly confront the root causes of chronic illness that place a heavy burden on so many families," Dr. Jonathan McCullers, vice president for health affairs at UH, said in a news release. "With the recent launch of UH Health, we have an unprecedented opportunity to translate scientific discovery into healthier outcomes for our communities by bringing together experts from across the university to improve health where it matters most.”

Through the program, UH researchers from different areas of expertise will work together to address the challenges of chronic illness by looking at biological, social and behavioral factors.

According to the university, chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, strokes and others are the leading cause of illness, disability and death in the U.S. They account for 90 percent of the nation’s $5.3 trillion in annual healthcare spending.

Bettina Beech, chief of population health and translational science at UH, serves as principal investigator for the program.

“Chronic disease management largely happens during the 8,700 hours each year that people are not visiting their healthcare provider,” Beech added in the news release. “While healthcare is indispensable, it only accounts for 20 percent of how health is created — genetics accounts for another 10 percent, and the other 70 percent is determined by behavior, social conditions and environment.”

With the funds from the grant, UH will also be able to expand research infrastructure, add to community partnerships, support complementary research, and invest in early-career investigators, according to the news release. UH also aims to develop solutions that could help ease the economic burden of chronic disease.

Report: Where Texas ranks among best and worst states to live in 2026

Texas Talk

After earning its worst-ever ranking last year, Texas has improved slightly on an evaluation of the best states to live, but it's still at the bottom of the pack.

Each year, WalletHub's analysts compare all 50 states using 51 livability metrics to measure their affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life, and safety. Factors that were weighed include the cost of living, homeownership rates, population and income growth rates, wealth gaps, public school system quality, road quality, crime rates, and many others.

The Lone Star State landed at No. 36 in 2026, making it the 15th worth state to live right now. That's on par with its 2024 ranking, and it's a two-spot improvement over its 2025 performance.

While Texas residents can brag about living in a state with the No. 1 highest number of restaurants per capita and the 7th best quality of life in the country, that's about it. Texas earned middling-to-poor scores among the four remaining livability rankings: safety (No. 33), affordability (No. 35), economy (No. 37), and education and health (No. 40).

Here's how Texas fared in other nationwide rankings in the study:

  • No. 27 – Income Growth
  • No. 30 – Housing Costs
  • No. 39 – Percentage of Population in Poverty
  • No. 42 – Percentage of Adults in Fair or Poor Health
  • No. 46 – Homeownership Rate
  • No. 49 – Percentage of Population Aged 25 and Older with a High School Diploma or Higher
  • No. 48 – Average Weekly Work Hours
  • No. 50 – Percentage of Insured Population

Texas has a lot of work to do to improve its livability for all of its residents, but especially for women, according to several other 2026 WalletHub studies. Texas is the fourth-worst state for women, the ninth-worst state for working mothers, and the seventh-worst place to have a baby based on limited access to maternal and pediatric healthcare.

At the very bottom of the report is New Mexico, ranking 50th overall, with Louisiana (No. 49), Mississippi (No. 48), Alaska (No. 47), and Arkansas (No. 46) rounding out the bottom five.

After holding on as the No. 1 best state to live for a few years in a row, Massachusetts now ranks No. 4 and was overtaken by Idaho (No. 1), New Jersey (No. 2), and Wisconsin (No. 3). New Hampshire rounds out the top five best states to live.

WalletHub's top 10 best states to live in 2026 are:

  • No. 1 – Idaho
  • No. 2 – New Jersey
  • No. 3 – Wisconsin
  • No. 4 – Massachusetts
  • No. 5 – New Hampshire
  • No. 6 – Wyoming
  • No. 7 – Utah
  • No. 8 – Minnesota
  • No. 9 – Pennsylvania
  • No. 10 – Florida
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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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