Cara Altimus

Cara Altimus leads BD2, a philanthropic research initiative focused on accelerating research and improving care for people living with Bipolar Disorder. Prior to the public launch of BD2, Cara led the development and early years of operational build, and her work across the last 5 years has led to an influx of more than $250M to the field of bipolar research. Cara’s passion and dedication for science funding—driven by rigor, patient insights, and the need for open science—is unmatched. She received her PhD in cellular and molecular biology at Johns Hopkins and has focused her career on neuroscience. Cara currently serves on the board of the Ontario Brain Institute. Prior to joining the Institute, Altimus led the Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC) program at the Milken Institute. Earlier in her career, she worked at the Food and Drug Administration, leading the Neural Interfaces Laboratory.