Our Story
Senior Management
Kris Vaddi, Ph.D. founded Prelude Therapeutics and has served as the Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors since 2016. Prior to founding Prelude, from 2014 to 2016, Dr. Vaddi served as Chief Executive Officer of Orsenix, LLC, a clinical stage biotechnology company. Previously, he held several roles at Incyte Corporation, starting as a Founding Scientist and an Executive Director in 2002, and most recently as a Senior Advisor from 2015 to 2016. Dr. Vaddi initiated and championed JAK research programs at Incyte that led to the discovery, development and approval of Jakafi® (ruxolotinib) for Myelofibrosis and Polycythemia Vera and Olumiant® (baricitinib) for rheumatoid arthritis. He received his BVSc in Veterinary Medicine from APAU in India and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from University of Florida.
Brian Piper, M.B.A currently serves as Chief Financial Officer at Prelude Therapeutics. Mr. Piper joined Prelude in 2019 and has over 25 years of experience in corporate healthcare finance, covering a wide span of financial and operational activities. Prior to joining Prelude, Mr. Piper served as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary at Aevi Genomic Medicine (later acquired by Cerecor, Inc.). Prior to his time with Aevi, Mr. Piper served as Vice President Finance and Investor Relations at Medgenics, Inc. from 2014 to 2016, and prior to Medgenics, had a 13- year career at Shire Pharmaceuticals (later acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited), holding key roles in Investor Relations, Corporate Venture Capital and numerous additional financial roles, including two years spent in Dublin, Ireland establishing Shire’s geographic expansion strategies. Early in his career, Mr. Piper also spent time with Celera Genomics and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Piper received his B.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.
David Mauro, M.D. currently serves as Chief Medical Officer at Prelude Therapeutics. Dr. Mauro joined Prelude in 2019 and has over 18 years of experience in oncology clinical development. Prior to joining Prelude, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Checkmate Pharmaceuticals Inc. from 2016 until 2019. Prior to Checkmate, Dr. Mauro served as Chief Medical Officer at Advaxis, Inc. from 2014 until 2016, Executive Director at Merck from 2007-2014, and prior to that, as a Director at Bristol Myers Squibb. Dr. Mauro’s experience covers a wide span of oncology drug development including translational, early and late stage development as well as U.S. medical affairs activities. He participated in three successful NDAs for Erbitux® (cetuximab), Sprycel® (dasatinib) and Sylatron® (peginterferon alfa-2b) as well as EGFR and KRAS companion diagnostics. Dr. Mauro received a B.S. in Biochemistry from Cornell University and an M.D. and Ph.D. from Temple University School of Medicine. He completed residency training at the NIH/NCI in Bethesda.
Peggy Scherle, Ph.D. has served as Chief Scientific Officer at Prelude Therapeutics since 2018. Prior to joining Prelude, Dr. Scherle held several roles at Incyte Corporation, most recently serving as Group Vice President, Discovery Biology and Preclinical Pharmacology where she oversaw the target validation and preclinical drug discovery efforts. Her prior roles at Incyte included Vice President, Preclinical Pharmacology from 2014 until 2017 and as Executive Director, In Vitro Biology from 2011 until 2014. Dr. Scherle was one of the original team of scientists that joined Incyte in 2002 and was involved in the discovery and development of the JAK inhibitors, Jakafi® (ruxolitinib), for the treatment of myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera, and Olumiant® (baricitinib), for rheumatoid arthritis, as well as the advancement of >10 small molecules into clinical studies for cancer, including both targeted therapy and immunotherapy approaches. Prior to Incyte, Dr. Scherle held scientific research positions with DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company and Bristol- Myers Squibb. Dr. Scherle received her Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Pennsylvania and completed her postdoctoral training at the NIH.
Andrew Combs, Ph.D. is the Executive Vice President and Head of Chemistry at Prelude Therapeutics. Dr. Combs joined Prelude in 2019 and has over 23 years of experience as a medicinal chemist. Prior to joining Prelude, Dr. Combs previously held several roles at Incyte Corporation, most recently as Vice President of Discovery Chemistry, where he led teams in medicinal chemistry, analytical chemistry, enabling technologies, computational design and informatics from 2003 until 2019. Earlier in his career, Dr. Combs held positions of increasing responsibility, starting as a Senior Research Scientist and advancing to a Director of medicinal chemistry at DuPont-Merck, DuPont Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb. His passion for research embraces the application of innovative and enabling technologies to expedite the drug discovery process. He has led teams of creative chemists with whom he co-invented >10 clinical candidates, including epacadostat and parsaclisib, which both entered late stage clinical trials in oncology. Dr. Combs holds B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Molecular Biology from the UW-Madison, a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from UCLA, and completed his training as a HHMI post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University.
Aimee Crombie, Ph.D. is Vice President of R&D Operations at Prelude Therapeutics. Prior to joining Prelude, she was Vice President of Research at Trevena, Inc. where she oversaw drug discovery activities supporting target and hit identification, chemical lead optimization, and drug candidate selection. Aimee has contributed to the discovery of several small molecule including oliceridine, TRV734, and TRV250, biased agonists of GPCRs that are being developed for the treatment of CNS disorders. Prior to joining Trevena, Aimee was a member of the Discovery Medicinal Chemistry group at Pfizer (formerly Wyeth) where she contributed to research programs in a variety of therapeutic areas including oncology, inflammation, neuroscience, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal diseases. Aimee received her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh and her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Adam Shilling, PhD is Vice President Early Development and Regulatory Affairs at Prelude Therapeutics with 20 years of pharmaceutical experience spanning all phases of clinical and preclinical development. Prior to joining Prelude, Adam was Executive Director of Global Regulatory Affairs at Incyte where he was the global regulatory lead for the GVHD franchise and JAK1 programs. Adam led the NDA submission and approval of Jakafi in acute GVHD and contributed to the development and NDA approvals for Jakafi in myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera and Olumiant in rheumatoid arthritis. Prior to Incyte, Adam was Principal Research Scientist at Wyeth, contributing to programs in infectious diseases, women’s health and neuroscience, including the NDA for Pristiq in major depressive disorders. He received his BS in Marine Biology at LIU Southampton and PhD in Toxicology at Oregon State University.
Madhu Pudipeddi, Ph.D. is Vice President of Technical Operations at Prelude Therapeutics. Prior to joining Prelude, he was Executive Director at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, where he had roles of increasing responsibility for over 16 years in the areas of drug development and technical operations. Dr. Pudipeddi contributed to the development and commercialization of several new molecular entities, build-up of an R&D organization in India, and oversaw Manufacturing Science & Technology operations in Europe and Americas. Prior to joining Novartis, Dr. Pudipeddi was at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he was engaged in drug discovery-development collaboration and development of new molecular entities. Dr. Pudipeddi received his B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Andhra University, India and his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Christopher Pierce, M.B.A. joined Prelude Therapeutics in 2020 as Executive Vice President and Chief of Business Operations. He previously served as Vice President and Head of Commercial at Loxo Oncology, where he built and oversaw the company’s commercial organization. Mr. Pierce led the launch of Vitrakvi® (larotrectinib) in a co-promote partnership with Bayer, as well as all commercialization activities for Retevmo® (selpercatinib / LOXO-292). Prior to joining Loxo, Mr. Pierce held several roles of increasing commercial responsibility at Pfizer Oncology from 2007 to 2017, most recently as Senior Director and Global Commercial Lead of the Hematologic Malignancies Portfolio. While at Pfizer, he led the launch and in-line management of various oncology therapeutics such as Xalkori® (crizotinib), Sutent® (sunitinib), Inlyta® (axitinib), Bosulif® (bosutinib), Mylotarg® (gemtuzumab ozagamicin), and Besponsa® (inotuzumab ozogamicin). From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Pierce worked at Millennium Pharmaceuticals managing market analytics for Velcade® (bortezomib). Before Millennium, Mr. Pierce was a life sciences management strategy consultant. Mr. Pierce received his A.B. degree in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College and his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.
Deborah Morosini, M.D., M.S.W. joined Prelude Therapeutics in 2020 and currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief of Clinical Affairs. She brings to Prelude extensive expertise in oncology drug development, clinical genomics, and philanthropic activism. She previously served as Vice President of Clinical Affairs and Patient Engagement (Chief Patient Officer) at Loxo Oncology, where she built and led patient engagement and enrollment strategy, medical affairs, and patient advocacy. Dr. Morosini played a key role in the launch of Vitrakvi® (larotrectinib) via a co-promote partnership with Bayer, and conducted launch preparations for LOXO-292, a RET inhibitor for lung and thyroid cancer. Prior to Loxo, she was an early team member at Foundation Medicine, where she developed a niche specialty in the genomics of adolescent and young adult cancer. Before joining Foundation Medicine, she founded and led the molecular pathology group at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, where she helped develop and implement biomarker strategies for biomarker-driven trials. Prior to AstraZeneca, Dr. Morosini served as Director of Pathology for Ardais, a clinical genomics biotechnology company. She has been featured as a spokesperson for numerous non-profit and government events in oncology and has provided expert commentary for national broadcast media. She has served on numerous national oncology non-profit boards, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the NCCN Foundation®, ClinWiki, and the SAB for Target Cancer and Upstage Lung Cancer. Dr. Morosini earned her B.A. in English from Mount Holyoke College, her M.S.W. from NYU Graduate School of Social Work, and her M.D. from Boston University School of Medicine. She completed a pathology residency at Boston Medical Center.
Board of Directors
Paul A. Friedman, MD
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Paul Friedman, M.D. was appointed to the Board of Directors in July 2016. He currently serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Office of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Friedman previously served as the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Incyte Corporation from 2001 until his retirement in 2014. From 1994 to 1998, he served as President of Research & Development for the DuPont-Merck Pharmaceutical Company; and from 1998 to 2001 as President of DuPont Pharmaceuticals Research Laboratories, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the DuPont Company. From 1991 to 1994, he served as Senior Vice President at Merck Research Laboratories. Prior to his tenures at Merck and DuPont, Dr. Friedman was an Associate Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation. Dr. Friedman currently serves on the boards of directors of Incyte Corporation, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He has previously served on the boards of directors of Cerulean Pharma Inc. and Verastem, Inc. Dr. Friedman received his A.B. in Biology from Princeton University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.
David Bonita, MD
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David Bonita, M.D., has been a member of Prelude’s Board of Directors since July 2016. Since June 2014, Dr. Bonita has served in various roles at OrbiMed Advisors LLC. Dr. Bonita currently serves on the boards of directors of a number of public and private companies. He has also worked as a Corporate Finance Analyst in the healthcare investment banking groups of Morgan Stanley and UBS. He received his A.B. in Biological Sciences from Harvard University and his joint M.D./M.B.A. from Columbia University.
Julian C. Baker
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Julian C. Baker joined the Prelude Board of Directors in January 2021. Mr. Baker is a Managing Member of Baker Brothers Investments a biotechnology-focused investment adviser to fund partnerships whose investors are primarily endowments and foundations, which Mr. Baker founded, together with his brother Felix Baker, in 2000. Prior to Baker Brothers, Mr. Baker was a portfolio manager at Tisch Financial Management from 1994 to 1999. Previously, Mr. Baker was employed from 1988 to 1993 by the private equity investment arm of Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation. Mr. Baker holds an A.B. from Harvard University. He serves on the boards of Incyte Corporation, Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Prelude Therapeutics, Inc., and Everyone Medicines Inc.
Kris Vaddi, PhD
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Kris Vaddi, Ph.D. founded Prelude Therapeutics and has served as the Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors since 2016. Prior to founding Prelude, from 2014 to 2016, Dr. Vaddi served as Chief Executive Officer of Orsenix, LLC, a clinical stage biotechnology company. Previously, he held several roles at Incyte Corporation, starting as a Founding Scientist and an Executive Director in 2002, and most recently as a Senior Advisor from 2015 to 2016. Dr. Vaddi initiated and championed JAK research programs at Incyte that led to the discovery, development and approval of Jakafi® (ruxolotinib) for Myelofibrosis and Polycythemia Vera and Olumiant® (baricitinib) for rheumatoid arthritis. He received his BVSc in Veterinary Medicine from APAU in India and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from University of Florida.
Mardi C. Dier
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Mardi C. Dier has served as a member of Prelude’s Board of Directors since August 2020. Ms. Dier most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and also as Chief Business Officer, of Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from November 2013 and October 2018, respectively, until its acquisition by Alexion Pharmaceuticals in July 2020, and as a Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from August 2006 to November 2013. From 2003 to 2006, Ms. Dier served as Vice President of Investor Relations at Chiron Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company. From 1994 to 2001, Ms. Dier served as a Director, Investment Banking at Prudential Securities, Inc., a securities firm. Ms. Dier previously served as a supervising senior accountant at the audit department of KPMG Peat Marwick, an accounting firm, from 1986 to 1990. Ms. Dier currently serves as a director, and member of the audit committee, of Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, and as a director of Oric Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Ms. Dier received a B.S. in Biology from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Victor Sandor, M.D.
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Victor Sandor has served as a member of Prelude’s Board of Directors since May 2020. From September 2014 to December 2019, Dr. Sandor served as the Chief Medical Officer at Array BioPharma Inc., a pharmaceutical company. From September 2014 to June 2019, he served as the Senior Vice President for Global Clinical Development at Incyte Corporation, a pharmaceutical company. From February 2010 to September 2014, Dr. Sandor served as the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for oncology at Biogen Idec and, from October 2009 to February 2010, held positions of increasing responsibility in oncology product development at AstraZeneca. Dr. Sandor has served on the board of directors of ADC Therapeutics SA since April 2020 and Merus N.V. since June 2019. Dr. Sandor received a M.D.C.M. from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and completed his Fellowship in Medical Oncology at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.