Julie Milder, PhD and Bret Scher, MD together bring scientific and medical leadership to Baszucki Group’s mission to transform mental health outcomes through metabolic interventions

SAN MATEO, Calif., November 14, 2022 – Baszucki Group today announced it has added two key executives from the medical and scientific fields to advance its philanthropic mission. Julie Milder, PhD, formerly of CURE Epilepsy, and Bret Scher, MD, formerly of DietDoctor.com, bring considerable expertise in neuroscience and metabolic health to the Baszucki Group’s leadership team. 

“We could not be more thrilled for Dr. Milder and Dr. Scher to join our growing team,” said author Jan Ellison Baszucki, who together with her husband, Roblox founder and CEO David Baszucki, established Baszucki Group in 2021. “Dr. Milder will leverage her experience in neuroscience, nonprofit grantmaking and industry to optimize Baszucki Group’s research portfolios. Dr. Scher will bring his medical and scientific expertise in ketogenic interventions for metabolic health in directing our newest initiative, Metabolic Mind, which aims to advance the nascent field of Metabolic Psychiatry.”

It’s been estimated that mental health receives less than 1% of all philanthropic health giving globally. Baszucki Group aims to expand the talent in this field, and increase the awareness and need for more investments to accelerate the pace of discovery and treatments.

Dr. Julie Milder, Associate Science Director

Dr. Milder is a neuroscientist with experience across academia, nonprofit grantmaking, and industry. She studied the impact of ketogenic diet on mitochondrial function and antioxidant response in pediatric epilepsy. Dr. Milder directed grantmaking and collaborative team science initiatives for CURE Epilepsy, the largest non-governmental funder of epilepsy research. After CURE, she joined an early stage life sciences company, Greenwich Biosciences, to develop novel therapeutics for epilepsy, then was Associate Director at Jazz Pharmaceuticals where she led the U.S. Medical Affairs Training and Excellence team. Dr. Milder has a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Colorado, Denver and a BS in Biology/Neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Bret Scher, Director of Metabolic Mind

Dr. Scher is a board-certified cardiologist, lipidologist and leading expert in therapeutic uses of metabolic therapies, including ketogenic diets, for optimizing health and longevity. He spent 15 years working as a preventative cardiologist in San Diego, California, improving his patients’ health through lifestyle interventions. In 2019, Dr. Scher became Medical Director for DietDoctor.com, the leading platform promoting metabolic health optimization through low carb nutrition. Dr. Scher has an MD from The Ohio State University College of Medicine and a BS in Biology from Stanford University.