Jackie von Salm, PhD - Co-Founder + CSO, Psilera Bioscience
When Jackie’s father was diagnosed with a rare form of dementia lacking treatment options, she took matters into her own hands. Jackie not only began researching cannabis sativa, but she also decided to start her own business—dedicated to researching alternative, psychoactive natural products. Jackie is the co-founder and chief scientific officer of Psileria Bioscience, a biotech startup helping bridge the gap between natural medicines and the “Big Pharma” industry, with a focus on neurological conditions, mental health and addiction. Jackie believes in staying mindful at every step of her research and discovery, bringing compassion, intention and empathy to the lab and always emphasizing ethics in science and medicine.
The Basics:
Hometown: Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida
Current city: Tampa, FL
Alma mater: University of South Florida
Degree: B.A., Chemistry; Ph.D., Natural Products (Organic) Chemistry
Very first job: Sales Associate, Aéropostale
Hustle: Co-Founder + Chief Scientific Officer, Psilera Bioscience
The Interests:
Babe you admire and why?
Rita Levi-Montalcini, because she overcame so many obstacles throughout her life and career, but still became a Nobel Prize winner, Senator for Life in the Italian Senate and lived to be 103 years-old.
Go-to coffee order and/or adult beverage?
I’m a huge tea fan, especially Boba Teas and Thai Tea
What’s one book that has greatly influenced your life?
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
What are your after-hours tricks for unwinding?
Being outside either walking or laying in my hammock
If you could have dinner with one woman (alive or dead) who would it be?
Janis Joplin
The Hustle:
Tell us about your hustle.
Psilera’s goal is to help bridge the gap between natural medicines and the “Big Pharma” industry, with a focus on neurological conditions, mental health and addiction. As a start-up biotech, I have to wear many hats. One day I’m working in the lab with our chemists, another I am working with marketing and legal, and the next I’m talking to heads of pharmaceutical companies about future collaborations. Thankfully, I have an excellent business partner and co-founder to help with all of these tasks along the way. Trying to tackle the mental health issues of our society won’t be a one-woman job, but I’ll try my hardest to be a major contributor!
Have you always had an interest in science? When did you decide to specialize in chemistry?
Yes, my interests started when I was young and read a lot about various rocks and minerals, and later flourished once I started reading about the cosmos and quantum chemistry in middle school. I was also fortunate to have a grandfather as a medical doctor and psychiatrist; he constantly questioned my thoughts on consciousness and the universe. That, in addition to a mother who loves alternative and Chinese medicine remedies, sparked my interest in specializing in chemistry.
When did you develop your passion for researching psychoactive natural products?
My father was diagnosed with a rare form of dementia with no current treatment options during my graduate work in natural products drug discovery. The lab I was in at the time had some collaborations with Alzheimer’s specialists, but nothing really for the various other neurological conditions growing in our society. After a postdoctoral fellowship in antibiotic drug discovery and a short stint in Pharma, I decided I wanted to dive in deeper into my own research with Cannabis sativa, since it was showing promising results in mental health. My passion grew exponentially as I worked with products and patients directly in the cannabis industry—a rare thing for many scientists to see. The positive outcomes were astounding, and we really couldn’t tell you exactly why things worked sometimes and other times not as well, so I wanted (and still want) to change that.
What led you to co-found Psilera Bioscience? What is “mindful medicine” and its relationship to mental health, and why is it important to you?
I grew up, like so many of us, surrounded by various traumas and addiction, and as my father’s dementia worsened, I decided it was time to take the leap and research addiction and neurodegeneration myself. “Mindful medicine” attempts to take a look at patient outcomes from a more whole-body approach. We’ve learned in pharmaceutical research that there is no “silver bullet”, so it’s going to take a lot of collaboration and interdisciplinary work. I also like to emphasize ethics in science and medicine and to always stay mindful of the patients at every step of our research and discovery.
What did your academic journey look like leading up to where you are now? How did it prepare (or not prepare) you for your career?
Oof, what an excellent question, because there are definitely ways that academics do not prepare scientists for a realistic career choice, nor one that directly benefits society in an obvious way. I feel that academics are laying the foundation for everyone else to build, but if you want to be on the side of application, they often fall short. I was fortunate (although sometimes it felt unfortunate) to have a Ph.D. advisor that gave us a lot of room to make our own mistakes and find solutions without being micromanaged. This gave me the opportunity to figure things out on my own, which can be obnoxious, but in the long run was extremely beneficial when running your own company. Natural products chemistry is also unique in that it uses all aspects of drug discovery from finding the organisms, to extracting their chemistry and finding which molecules are responsible for various biological activity, so it inherently requires interdisciplinary research and collaboration.
What’s one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve made in your career?
I used to be told that I’m “too nice,” but I think my investment and time in people has led me to a very wide network of collaborators and helpful connections. Scientists aren’t exactly known for being super personable, and I think that’s one of the reasons they don’t often go out and start their own companies. It requires a certain amount of catering to the human condition in a sense that not everything will be perfect and there will be a lot of inefficiencies, but if you let that stifle you completely, you’ll never move forward. That’s not always easy for a scientist!
How has being a woman impacted your professional experiences? What can we collectively do to support and empower women in your industry today?
I have unfortunately been on the receiving end of discrimination as a woman in science, especially from specific cultures around the world that do not accept women’s equality. I was raised around a lot of “good ol’ Florida boys” and a powerful single mom, which gave me thick skin, so I don’t take much of anything personally—but I also have the memory of an elephant, so it’s sort of like that saying, “Do no harm, but take no shenanigans”. This may have made me successful professionally up to this point; however, I do not think this is sustainable or realistic for many women, and men to be honest. We’re in an era where families and mental health are starting to regain priority as they should, and our current work environments are not conducive to supporting this lifestyle. We have to be more supportive of having families. It’s not a woman’s fault that she literally bears the weight of the world by populating the planet, and it should be celebrated, not punished. I will emphasize that although I had support from women in my personal life, I had mostly men in my professional life that were my advocates in science, and I will be forever grateful. I started graduate school with a four-month-old, and my male professors were much more supportive and understanding than I could have ever imagined.
What’s something you wish your younger self had known when you were just starting out?
I wish I had realized just how little everyone actually knows, and that I had just as much right to be confident as any man in the field. We’re all only human after all. Some will have to try much harder than others, but I’m a firm believer in anything being possible with enough passion and drive.
What’s one thing you’re proud to have accomplished in your career thus far?
Despite my research and work in cannabis and now starting my own biotech company, I’m still very proud of finding new compounds in graduate school that nobody had ever discovered before. There’s something about being the first person to see a brand new discovery, and I hope to have that feeling again with new discoveries in psychedelics research. One of the compounds I discovered with the help of my now business partner was darwinolide, and this led to being named the Most Read Author of the American Chemical Society in 2017.
How can we collectively tackle stigmas around alternative medicine and/or mental health?
I think we all need to be reminded that most pharmaceuticals on the market were originally discovered in nature. The foundation of alternative and regulated medicines are one and the same, and we will always use nature as inspiration which is obvious in biomimicry. The stigmas around mental health, however, will be more difficult to overcome. It has often been looked at as a weakness or lack of “control”, so we need to break the idea that any one human being is better than another, which will be a lot more difficult that most want to admit. Hierarchy in humanity has been around for a long time—and often leads to financial gain through exploitation—but we need to evolve beyond that and recognize the human condition is imperfect and unique, and that’s precisely what makes it special.
Are you involved with any other side projects or organizations? How do you balance these?
I review for a couple of academic journals and help edit proceedings for the cannabis subdivision of the American Chemical Society. I also try to stay active in the community where possible with the Great American Teach-In and Million Women Mentors, but I won’t pretend that it’s easy or that I am “balanced”, haha. I’ve made science and science communication my life, so I equate it to being a movie star or star athlete. My main focus is making sure I spend time with my family and son, which is a major reason for starting my own company. I make my own schedule for the most part.
What words of wisdom do you have for other working moms?
Take your time and do what’s best for you. Too many women get taken advantage of for being helpful and productive beyond their means—and it’s often without recognition or promotion. To truly know your worth will set you free, and we’re all just making things up as we go, anyway!
Who are some women in your field that you look to for inspiration?
In natural products, I would say I really enjoyed Nadja Cech’s work at UNC and definitely used that as inspiration for some of my work on the cannabis “entourage effect”. Now that I’ve become more of a business scientist, specifically in psychedelics, I’d say Deborah Mash is an absolute inspiration in the field. I had the pleasure of speaking with her at a conference recently after she presented some of her work with ibogaine therapies, and I hope to have more chances in the future.
Career and/or life advice for other babes?
I just want everyone to remember that overthinking and overworking your mind on things outside of your control will kill you. I mean that literally and figuratively, because stress will shorten your life and enjoyment, and we all need to get better at thinking about our brains like working organs and parts of our bodies that need taking care of. If you throw a dog a ball over and over again, it can pass out from exhaustion, and your mind constantly thinking is the same. It needs time to rest and recuperate.
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