While working for a private equity firm after graduation, Tim Schlidt (BBA ’15) began hearing about emerging data regarding the potential of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders. As someone who had been diagnosed with depression at a young age, and wondered about better treatment options, the science immediately caught his eye.
“The data was remarkable,” he says. “When you compared it to anything within the standard of care for treating mental illness, the efficacy was far and above anything currently in the toolkit.”
That led Tim to co-found Palo Santo in 2020, a venture capital fund focused on investing in companies developing new psychedelic therapies to treat conditions like depression, anxiety, PTSD, and addiction.
The goal, says Tim, is to bring innovation to a field that hasn’t seen many clinical advancements since the introduction of drugs like Prozac in the 1980s.
It’s complex work, but to get the job done, Tim draws from his experience as a finance major at WSB and active participant in the school’s Investment Banking Club.
“Being able to run case studies and do interesting projects in my advanced classes has had direct applicability in my career,” he says.