A neurologist who spent nearly two decades on the University of California San Francisco faculty, then ran Alphabet’s neurology clinical operating platform at Verily Life Sciences for seven years, has taken a full-time operating role at Paradromics. On 7 July 2026 at 9:00 AM Eastern Time, Paradromics announced via BusinessWire (news ID 20260707542238, Austin Texas dateline) that William J. Marks, Jr., MD, MS-HCM, is joining the company as its Chief Clinical Officer. The role is distinct from the Chief Medical Officer position that neurosurgeon Stephen Ryu, MD, has held since joining Paradromics in 2025. Marks was previously Head of Clinical Neurology and Head of Clinical Science at Verily Life Sciences, the Alphabet-owned life-science subsidiary, from 2016 to 2023.

The hire lands 20 days after Paradromics’ first-in-human Connexus BCI implant at University of Michigan Health on 17 June 2026, which Inside BCI covered separately as the company’s transition from preclinical device to a clinical-stage entrant in the intracortical BCI cohort alongside Neuralink, Synchron, and Precision Neuroscience.

Marks’ verified career path

Per the BusinessWire release verbatim, Marks holds a Bachelor of Science from Marquette University, a Doctor of Medicine from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, completed his neurology residency and epilepsy/clinical neurophysiology fellowship at the University of California San Francisco, and earned a Master of Science in Health Care Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. His career sequence, as stated in the release, runs across four principal roles.

He was Professor of Neurology at UCSF for what the release describes as “nearly two decades.” Between 2004 and 2010, in parallel with his UCSF academic role, he served as Consultant Medical Director for Medtronic’s global Deep Brain Stimulation business, working on the clinical development and commercialisation of Medtronic’s implantable Class III neuromodulation devices. That was the era in which Medtronic’s DBS platform established the modern reimbursed-neuromodulation category that companies including Boston Scientific and Abbott subsequently built into commercial DBS devices.

From 2016 to 2023, Marks was at Verily Life Sciences, holding senior clinical leadership roles that the BusinessWire release specifies as Head of Clinical Neurology and Head of Clinical Science. Verily is the Alphabet-owned life-science subsidiary spun out of Google X, and its Clinical Science organisation was one of a small set of “clinical operations inside a tech company” builds that emerged in the mid-2010s. Marks’ role there is described as building Verily’s Neurology platform and leading its cross-functional Clinical Science team. From 2023 through 31 March 2026, Marks was co-founder, General Partner, and Chief Medical Officer of Nexus NeuroTech Ventures, a neurotechnology investment firm. Nexus NeuroTech Ventures publicly disclosed on its corporate site that it concluded operations as of 31 March 2026, which is consistent with Marks becoming available for a full-time operating role.

Two clinical C-suite roles at Paradromics, not one

The BusinessWire release specifies Marks’ new title as Chief Clinical Officer with the explicit description that he will serve as “Paradromics’ full-time internal clinical lead.” That role is separate from the Chief Medical Officer title held by neurosurgeon Stephen Ryu, MD, who joined Paradromics in 2025 per Paradromics’ own corporate timeline. Both titles now sit on the Paradromics leadership page as distinct entries.

The CMO/CCO split is a specific corporate-structure signal. Under the standard biotech model, the Chief Medical Officer role is anchored in physician-scientist / surgical / regulatory-science leadership, while the Chief Clinical Officer role is anchored in clinical trial operations, clinical scale-out, and evidence generation. Paradromics chief executive Matt Angle, PhD, is quoted in the BusinessWire release describing Marks as bringing “the kind of clinical leadership Paradromics needs as we move from first-in-human work toward broader clinical translation,” and describing Marks’ Verily-era experience as building “clinical science organizations inside major technology companies.” Angle is also quoted saying that Paradromics is “building a technology company with a healthcare-first foundation” and that its ambition of restoring communication and control for people with severe neurological conditions “requires not only extraordinary engineering, but deep clinical judgment, disciplined evidence generation, and trusted partnerships with the medical community.”

Marks is quoted in the release describing BCIs as “entering a moment similar to earlier chapters in neuromodulation, when decades of scientific and technical progress begin to become routine clinical care and produce significant clinical impact,” and describing his own focus as translating the Paradromics clinical-grade platform “into applications and outcomes that can serve patients, clinicians, and caregivers with scientific rigor and clinical excellence.”

The Connect-One clinical study status

Paradromics’ Connect-One Early Feasibility Study received US FDA Investigational Device Exemption approval on 20 November 2025, per Paradromics’ own corporate timeline. The first Connect-One implant was performed on 17 June 2026 at University of Michigan Health by neurosurgeon Matthew Willsey, MD, PhD, with Aditya S. Pandey, MD, at Michigan Medicine’s University Hospital in Ann Arbor. Inside BCI covered the first implant on 17 June 2026. Paradromics has not publicly disclosed any second Connect-One implant as of publication; the local Detroit television coverage that ran on 6-7 July 2026 (WILX, ClickOnDetroit, WDIV) is delayed local coverage of the same June 17 event, not a new implant.

The Connect-One EFS is designed as a long-term study evaluating the Connexus BCI’s ability to safely restore speech and enable computer control for people with severe motor impairment. The study’s follow-up horizon is disclosed in Paradromics’ materials as approximately six years.

Where Marks’ hire signals Paradromics’ next 18 months

The specific timing of the hire matters. Paradromics announced Marks’ appointment 20 days after the first Connect-One implant. Executive-search and recruiting cycles for senior clinical roles at BCI companies typically run several months. The role was, in other words, in play throughout the period between the November 2025 IDE approval and the June 2026 first implant, and the appointment is timed to lead the transition from n equals one to a multi-site early-feasibility-study cadence and eventually to a pivotal trial.

The Verily provenance is the story to underline. Alphabet’s Verily built a clinical operating organisation inside a technology company at a period when very few peers did. The specific playbook of running a Clinical Science org that generates evidence at the pace tech companies expect, not the pace traditional pharma companies expect, is scarce and portable. Marks is one of a small number of people with hands-on experience running that playbook. His specific role at Verily was the Neurology platform build, which is the direct adjacency to what Paradromics is now scaling.

Paradromics’ publicly named commercial cohort context is worth noting. In the US intracortical BCI category, Neuralink completed its first Canadian ALS implant at University Health Network Toronto on 20 May 2026 via the new transdural surgical technique, which Inside BCI covered on 4 July 2026. Synchron’s US COMMAND early feasibility study completed enrolment in September 2023, with long-term follow-up continuing. Precision Neuroscience is operating its Layer 7 cortical interface in patients under 510(k) clearance. Paradromics moving into full multi-site EFS execution mode, with a full-time CCO whose Verily background is specifically about scaling clinical operations, is the specific next-quarter operating signal.

What to watch

The first signal is Paradromics’ second Connect-One implant. The Michigan first implant is the reference case; the second implant will be the signal about whether the trial cadence is monthly, quarterly, or slower. Any Paradromics disclosure of a second implant, at Michigan or at a new site, will be worth tracking.

The second signal is which additional US neurosurgical sites join the Connect-One EFS. Paradromics has not publicly disclosed additional trial sites as of publication. The identity of the second and third US sites will indicate the geographic and institutional scope of the trial.

The third signal is the shape of Paradromics’ next funding round. The company has been actively raising during the past 18 months. Whether a Series B or larger round closes in the coming quarters, and with which lead investor, will indicate the private capital market’s response to the transition from preclinical to clinical stage.

The fourth signal is whether Paradromics discloses regulatory targets beyond the EFS. The Connect-One EFS is the current disclosed clinical activity. Whether Paradromics files a pivotal-trial IDE, or announces a specific PMA timeline, is the signal about how quickly the company intends to move toward commercial approval.

Sources

• Paradromics Appoints William J. Marks, Jr., MD, MS-HCM, as Chief Clinical Officer (BusinessWire, 7 July 2026, news ID 20260707542238)
• Paradromics corporate news page
• Paradromics leadership page (Ryu CMO + Marks CCO both listed)
• Nexus NeuroTech Ventures corporate site (concluded operations 31 March 2026)
• Inside BCI: Paradromics first Connexus BCI implant Michigan Connect-One, 17 June 2026 · Neuralink first Canadian ALS transdural CAN-PRIME, 4 July 2026 · Nia Therapeutics SNS FDA Breakthrough, 5 July 2026