Mind Medicine (MindMed) Inc. (NASDAQ: MNMD), (NEO: MMED), (DE: MMQ) (“MindMed” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has appointed Dr. Sarah Y. Vinson as a director of the Company and a member of its audit committee, effective immediately.
Dr. Vinson is a Triple Board-Certified physician who specializes in adult, child & adolescent, and forensic psychiatry. She is the founder of Lorio Forensics, a multidisciplinary mental health expert consultation firm and of the Lorio Psych Group, a group mental healthcare practice. Dr. Vinson is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Morehouse School of Medicine, where she is the Program Director of the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship, and Adjunct Faculty at Emory University School of Medicine. Just two years after joining the faculty at Morehouse School of Medicine she was honored as Psychiatry and Faculty of the Year in 2015. Throughout her career, Dr. Vinson has provided clinical care to children, adolescents, and adults in both publicly funded and private treatment settings.
Dr. Vinson said, “Mental health is not merely a professional pursuit. It is my passion. I see the limitations of our current pharmacologic treatment options and recognize the importance – and necessity – of innovation. I’m grateful to be a part of MindMed’s tremendous undertaking.”
Dr. Vinson is the past President of the Georgia Council on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the President Elect of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association. Additionally, she is an advisor for the Judges Psychiatry Leadership Initiative. Dr. Vinson has been a speaker at national conferences including the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Annual Meeting and The National Urban League Annual Meeting. Dr. Vinson has received numerous awards in recognition of her service and leadership including the University of Florida College of Medicine Outstanding Young Alumna Award and the APA Jeanne Spurlock Minority Fellowship Alumna Achievement Award. Dr. Vinson graduated from medical school at the University of Florida, completed her general psychiatry training at Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School and completed fellowships in both child & adolescent and forensic psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine.
MindMed CEO & Co-Founder J.R. Rahn said, “We are excited to welcome Dr. Vinson as we build MindMed into a leading force for good in the mental health space and as we generate clinical interest and acceptance of psychedelic medicines in the United States. The entire MindMed team is looking forward to learning from Dr. Vinson’s years of experience delivering mental health care services and how we can tackle the seminal problem of accessibility around the new treatment paradigm MindMed is working on.”
The Company will also be putting forward Dr. Vinson as an additional nominee for election to its board of directors (the “Board”) at its upcoming annual and special meeting of shareholders to be held on May 27, 2021 (the “Meeting”).
In order to add Dr. Vinson as an additional director nominee at the Meeting, it is anticipated that motions will be made to amend the resolutions put before the Meeting regarding (i) the fixing of the number of directors to be elected; and (ii) the director nominees to be elected at the Meeting, as further described below. Management of the Company intends to rely on its discretionary authority granted in the proxies currently being solicited in conjunction with the Company’s management information circular dated April 19, 2021 in respect of the Meeting (the “Circular”) to vote FOR the foregoing amendments and the election of Dr. Vinson as a director. The Circular is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and https://odysseytrust.com/client/mindmedicine.
As described in the Circular, the Board has recently undertaken a process to increase independent representation on the Board and its audit committee. Dr. Vinson represents an additional independent director on the Board, and will also fill the current vacancy on the Company’s audit committee. Dr. Vinson is considered financially literate and independent for the purposes of National Instrument 52-110. Additionally, the Board believes that the addition of Dr. Vinson as a director will enhance the overall skill set of the Board given her relevant industry expertise.
Additional Information
In order to add Dr. Vinson as an additional director nominee at the Meeting, it is anticipated that a motion will be made to amend the resolution to fix the number of directors at the Meeting, to increase the number of directors to be elected at the Meeting to be fixed at seven directors, rather than six directors as contemplated in the Circular. It is anticipated that at the Meeting, the shareholders of the Company will be asked to consider and, if deemed advisable, approve an ordinary resolution to fix the number of directors of the Company at seven. Management of the Company intends to rely on its discretionary authority granted in proxies currently being solicited in conjunction with the Circular to vote in favour of the foregoing amendment and the resolution setting the number of directors to be elected at seven.
In order to add Dr. Vinson as an additional director nominee at the Meeting, it is anticipated that a motion will be made to add Dr. Vinson as an additional director nominee, in addition to those nominees as set out on pages 8 and 9 of the Circular. Management of the Company intends to rely on its discretionary authority granted in proxies currently being solicited in conjunction with the Circular to vote in favour of the foregoing amendment and the election of Dr. Vinson.