Our Company
Freespira, Inc. is the maker of Freespira, the only drug-free, FDA-cleared digital therapeutic proven to significantly reduce or eliminate symptoms of panic disorder, panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder in just 28 days.
Health plans, providers and self-insured employers use the company’s solutions to improve quality of life and to support the appropriate use of valuable healthcare resources.
Our Leadership Team

Joseph Perekupka
Chief Executive Officer

Robert Cuyler, PhD
Chief Clinical Officer

Camille McMullen
Vice President of Government Sales

Simon Thomas
President

Monica Frederick
Senior Vice President of Strategic Accounts

Miranda Wilson
Senior Director of Patient Engagement and Experience
Our Board of Directors

Russell Siegelman
Board Chairperson
Russell Siegelman has spent over thirty years in business and technology as a manager, investor, and director. Currently he is splitting his time between teaching, angel investing, and non-profit activities.
As a Lecturer at Stanford’s School of Business, he teaches classes in entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. Russell is a mentor and adviser to many GSB students and entrepreneurs.
He is the Board Chair of Freespira, Inc., a digital therapeutics company started by his wife, Beth Siegelman.
In the non-profit area, he has been the Chairman of the Board of the Global Innovation Fund, Chairman of the Board of Sustainable Conservation, a member of the USAID Development Lab Advisory Committee, a Trustee of the Nueva School, and a board member at the Lucille Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. He is currently a board member at Innovations for Poverty Action. He and his wife, Beth Siegelman, are longtime donors to the Jamal Poverty Action Lab at MIT.
Russell has made personal investments in over sixty technology start-ups. He and Beth have made startup grants to several non-profit impact enterprises, including Merit America, Earth Enable, and Trust Neighborhoods. They are also partner donors to the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation.
Starting in 1996, Russell spent eleven years as a Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where he invested in consumer and technology related technologies and markets, including software, electronic commerce, Web services, semiconductors, mobile systems, media and telecommunications.
Russell joined KPCB after seven years at Microsoft. At Microsoft he helped launch several networking and Windows products. Later he worked directly for Bill Gates, resulting in the formation the Microsoft Network (MSN), Microsoft’s online service. He also oversaw the formation of Slate.
He earned his BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Physics in 1984 and an MBA from Harvard University where he was a Baker Scholar in 1989.

Jonathan MacQuitty
Board Member
Jonathan MacQuitty is the Chief Executive Officer at D2G Oncology. He is also Sector Head for Life Sciences for Lightspeed Ventures. He has more than 15 years of operational experience in life science companies and over 14 years of venture capital experience. His directorships have included Adiana, Dicerna, Entelos, Guava, Gynesonics, Labcyte, ParAllele BioScience, Personalis, SFJ Pharmaceuticals and Sunesis.
He joined Abingworth in 1999 as President and Director of the company’s US subsidiary, Abingworth Management Inc, and is based at the firm’s offices in Menlo Park, California. Before joining Abingworth he was an adviser to a Japanese venture capital firm. Between 1988 and 1997 he was CEO of GenPharm International, a biotech company in which Abingworth invested. Before this he held business development positions at Genencor and Genentech. He has served on the Board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
Jonathan has an MA in Chemistry from Oxford University, a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Sussex and an MBA from Stanford University.

Dr. Woodrow Myers
Board Member
Dr. Woodrow (Woody) Myers is a physician, business executive, husband, father, and grandfather. He served as Indiana’s State Health Commissioner under both Governor Evan Bayh and Governor Robert D. Orr. He is a nationally recognized leader in the development of medical quality initiatives and advanced healthcare management programs.
Through Myers Ventures LLC, Dr. Myers has served as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Healthcare Strategist for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, as CEO of Corizon Health, and as a Board member and healthcare consultant for multiple hospitals, healthcare companies, and provider organizations. He has served as Corporate Medical Director of Indiana Blue Cross Blue Shield, as New York City Health Commissioner, and Chairman of Quality Assurance at the San Francisco General Hospital. His international leadership experience includes Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Mozambique Healthcare Consortium (www.mozambiquehealth.org). As a member of the faculty of the Indiana University School of Medicine, he taught emergency medicine at Wishard Hospital (now Eskenazi Hospital).
Dr. Myers also served as the director of healthcare management at the Ford Motor Company, and he is past chairman of the Visiting Committee for the Harvard School of Public Health and has served as a member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers as well as the Stanford University Board of Trustees. He has also served on a number of public company boards, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Personalis Inc.
Dr. Woody Myers is a graduate of Shortridge High School in Indianapolis. He received his MD degree from the Harvard Medical School, an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a Bachelor of Science [BS] with honors from Stanford University.

Debra Reisenthel
Board Member and Founding CEO
Debra is an experienced medical device and digital health CEO with a passion for breakthrough products and services that improve health, well-being and quality of life. She has broad operational and leadership roles in start-ups, corporate, and nonprofit organizations. Debra has a successful record of fundraising from venture capital, angel investors and non-profit donors, with significant expertise in working with government agencies, such as FDA and CMS in overcoming regulatory & reimbursement obstacles.
As Founding CEO of Freespira Inc., Debra grew the company from 2013-2018 by leading programs to expand Freespira’s evidence base with clinical trials for panic, PTSD and adolescents while driving a health economics study with a large payer. She also established relationships with leading payors and employers while managing the development and launch of the Freespira treatment for panic disorder, panic attacks and PTSD. Debra brings a unique blend of experience to Freespira, having successfully led early-stage ventures and leveraging her expertise in respiratory physiology.
Previous to Freespira, Debra worked with a Bay Area incubator (Exploramed) to develop a women’s health product. From 2001-2010, Debra was Founding President, CEO and Director at Novasys Medical where she led the development, launch and commercialization of the Renessa® treatment for female stress urinary incontinence.
Prior to Novasys, Debra was Vice President and General Manager at Tyco Inc. (Mallinckrodt, Nellcor Puritan Bennett, Nellcor), leading the development and commercialization of fetal oxygen monitoring. Early in her career Debra was Assistant Director of Respiratory Care at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, responsible for Labor & Delivery, Neonatal and Pediatrics.
Debra has held several Director positions in her career and is currently Director at Raydiant Oximetry, Inc., and Vice Chair of the Digital Therapeutics Alliance, the trade organization focused on broadening the understanding, adoption, and integration of clinically evaluated digital therapeutics with patients, clinicians, payors, and policymakers worldwide.
Debra holds a B.A. in Applied Behavioral Sciences, an MBA and R.R.T credentials.

Steve Schwartz
Board Member
Mr. Schwartz brings over 30 years’ experience in corporate and business development from some of the nation’s leading health technology companies. He currently serves as Executive VP of Corporate Development at Transcarent. Prior to that Mr. Schwartz was senior vice president of Business and Corporate Development at Livongo that achieved Nasdaq’s largest digital health IPO; and then a year later helped lead the company’s $18.5 billion merger with Teladoc.
Mr. Schwartz began his career as a sales and business development leader for LabCorp, where for over a decade helped build the clinical lab company into an industry leading multi-billion-dollar success. For the next 12 years, he led corporate business development for Allscripts, where he was responsible for building the company’s massive partner ecosystem and managing strategic acquisitions while the electronic health record company grew by more than ten-fold.
Next, Mr. Schwartz was vice president of business development and strategy for 23andMe, leading a team that built strategic partnerships with Life Sciences companies, researchers, health systems, retailers, and wellness companies. After 23andMe, he joined Franklin, Tenn.-based Healthways, running the company’s emerging business segments while helping to lead the transaction that resulted in the formation of Tivity Health, unlocking over $500million in stockholder value in just under nine months.
Then in 2017, former Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman recruited Mr. Schwartz to lead business development for his new company, Livongo Health (now Teladoc Health), a digital health leader that makes it easier for people with chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and behavioral health issues to stay healthier and by doing so reducing the cost burden on employers and health plans. Today, Mr. Schwartz serves on a number of boards and part time as Executive VP of Mergers and Acquisitions for Senior Connect Acquisition Corp., a blank check company led by Chairman Richard Burke, the founder and former CEO of UnitedHealth Group.

Ned Sheetz
Board Member
Ned founded Aphelion Capital®, LLC in 2005 and has over 20 years of healthcare investing experience. Prior to forming Aphelion, Ned was a partner and managing director with Piper Jaffray Ventures (PJV) for nearly eight years, focusing on investments in emerging medical technology companies. Ned joined PJV from Janus Capital, where he was a senior research analyst covering both healthcare and internet investments. Before beginning his investment career Ned worked in various product management roles with a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak and in sales and marketing with Kraft General Foods.
Ned is a graduate of Colby College, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and was a post-graduate scholar at Oxford University. Ned holds the CFA designation, and is an advisory board member with the Center for Medical Device Innovation, and on the business advisory board of The Epilepsy Therapy Development Project.
Ned has served on numerous private company boards over his career. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Aardvark Medical, Clearflow, CyMedica, Mercator, and Freespira.
Our Advisors

Hansa Bhargava, MD, is a board certified pediatrician and staff member at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She is the author of the book, Building Happier Kids, and former senior medical director at WebMD. Bhargava has extensive experience in digital health, strategic partnerships, and innovation.

Donald Jones is the co-founder and chair of IMPACT, the Virtual First Medical Practice Collaborative, at The Digital Medicine Society, the professional society for the digital medicine community, and a global thought leader, investor and board member in digital health.

Richard Montwill currently serves as a strategic health plan advisor the Employee Healthcare Innovation Roundtable. He is also the former senior vice president of corporate strategy at Optum.

Alan H. Spiro, MD, MBA, is the president and chief medical officer of Laguna Health. He is also the former co-founder of Accolade and previously served as chief medical officer, chief strategy officer and head of data science and analytics for Blue Health Intelligence.

Solome Tibebu is the founder and host of Going Digital: Behavioral Health Tech, the leading community for health plans, employers, providers and tech companies to advance access to mental health services through technology and innovation.

Avrim Fishkind, MD is a behavioral health entrepreneur and pioneer of emergency telepsychiatry, Dr. Fishkind develops relationships between Freespira and the psychiatric community.

Amar Kendale is a healthcare technology executive and entrepreneur who previously served as the chief product officer of Livongo and Teladoc.

The Honorable David Shulkin, MD, served as the ninth Secretary of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the former Under Secretary for Health. He now works with innovative organizations and companies that support veterans.

Michael Telch, PhD, is a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Texas. He is internationally recognized for his scientific research on the nature and treatment of panic, phobias, trauma and anxiety-related disorders.
*Freespira is indicated (FDA-cleared) as an adjunctive treatment of symptoms associated with panic disorder, panic attacks and/or PTSD in patients 18 and older. In younger patients, Freespira has been evaluated and is being made available as permitted by FDA’s COVID-19 Enforcement Discretion Guidance.
1 Tolin DF, et al., Appl Psychophysiology Biofeedback. 2017; 42:51-58.
2 Ostacher MJ*, Investigation of the Freespira System in the treatment of PTSD. Submitted for publication. CAPS-5 = Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5; *Reliable change index.