Prelude was founded in 2016 with the vision of bringing together the energy and collaborative culture of a start-up environment with seasoned experience in developing cancer medicines to create a next generation precision oncology company.
Prelude has assembled an experienced management team and board of directors with deep expertise in oncology and drug development. We have built from the “ground up” our internal discovery engine led by scientific and medical teams with proven capabilities in inventing and rapidly developing small molecule medicines that have the potential to transform cancer care.

Kris Vaddi, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
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.

Jane Huang, M.D.
President and Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Huang was appointed President and Chief Medical Officer of Prelude in April 2022. Prior to joining Prelude, she served as Chief Medical Officer of Hematology at BeiGene, Ltd., where she created a global development organization encompassing clinical pharmacology to global product safety and had strategic oversight of the development of five hematology medicines. During her tenure with BeiGene, she oversaw the approval of zanubrutinib in three diseases spanning more than 45 countries and was responsible for the first approval of tislelizumab in Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Prior to joining BeiGene in 2016, Dr. Huang served as Vice President, Clinical Development at Acerta Pharma, where she oversaw global clinical development of the BTK inhibitor, acalabrutinib. Prior to this, she worked at Genentech, where she played a leading role in drug development programs for multiple therapies throughout all stages of development, including, Rituxan®, Avastin®, Kadcyla®, Venclexta® and Gazyva®. She is board certified in hematology, oncology, and internal medicine and is Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University.

Laurent Chardonnet
Chief Financial Officer
Laurent Chardonnet is Chief Financial Officer of Prelude Therapeutics. Prior to Prelude, he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer at Axcella Health. Prior to Axcella, he spent 15 years at Incyte Corporation where he held roles of increasing responsibility including Vice President Finance, Treasurer and Principal Accounting Officer, Head of Finance and Administration for the company’s European division, and Vice President of Alliances and Global Strategy. Mr. Chardonnet received his Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University and his initial business degree from the Institut Supérieur de Gestion in Paris.

Peggy Scherle, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer
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.
Executive Vice President and Head of Chemistry
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.

Michele Porreca, M.B.A.
Chief People Officer
Michele Porreca, M.B.A., joined Prelude Therapeutics in June 2021 to serve in the newly created position of Chief People Officer where she will lead all aspects of the Company’s human resources management, including, talent management and strategy, organizational effectiveness, total rewards, culture, inclusion, and employee communications. Ms. Porreca brings more than 20 years of experience in human resources with over a decade of specialized experience in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical sector. Most recently, she served as CHRO at Nabriva Therapeutics, where she led the human resources function during its transition from a clinical stage to commercial stage infectious disease organization. Prior to Nabriva, she served as the Vice President, Human Resources at Synergy Pharmaceuticals during the launch of its first specialty product. In addition, Ms. Porreca was a member of the HR leadership team at Shire Pharmaceuticals during a six-year span of rapid growth and partnered with global leaders across rare disease and specialty pharma lines of business as well corporate functions. In addition to her time in life sciences, Ms. Porreca held HR leadership roles in both the medical and tech industries. Ms. Porreca earned a B.A from Ursinus College and an M.B.A from Drexel University.

Naveen Babbar, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President of Translation Medicine
Naveen Babbar is Senior Vice President, Translation Medicine. Before joining Prelude, Naveen was Vice President of Global Precision Medicine at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Naveen’s experience covers a wide span of solid tumor oncology drug and device development including translational studies across early and late-stage development, diagnostic assay development, global registrations and commercial launches. Naveen has contributed to successful NDA submissions for Zykadia® (ALK inhibitor), Kisqali® (CDK4/6 inhibitor), Piqray® (PIK3CA inhibitor) and Tabrecta® (cMET inhibitor), and their associated companion diagnostic assays globally. Naveen received his M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Delhi, India, Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of Arizona and completed his postdoctoral fellowship from Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Aimee Crombie, Ph.D.
SVP & Head of Strategic Planning & Operations
Aimee Crombie, Ph.D. is Senior Vice President and Head of Strategic Planning & 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.

Madhu Pudipeddi, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President of Technical Operations
Madhu Pudipeddi, Ph.D. is Senior 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.
Board of Directors
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 board of directors of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He has previously served on the boards of directors of Incyte Corporation, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 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, 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 joined the Prelude Board of Directors in January 2021. Mr. Baker is a Managing Member of Baker Brothers Investments 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., Everyone Medicines Inc., and Alumis, Inc.
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 has served as a member of Prelude’s Board of Directors since August 2020. Ms. Dier currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Ultragenyx. She previously 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 Oric Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Synthekine. 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 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 2010 to June 2014, he served as the Senior Vice President for Global Clinical Development at Incyte Corporation, a pharmaceutical company. Dr. Sandor also previously served as Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Oncology at Biogen Idec and 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, Istarti Oncology since July 2019, 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.
Martin Babler joined the Board of Directors in July 2021. Mr. Babler currently serves as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Esker Therapeutics. Prior thereto he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Principia Biopharma until its acquisition by Sanofi S.A. in October 2020. Prior to joining Principia Biopharma, Mr. Babler served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Talima Therapeutics from 2007 to 2011. From 1998 to 2007, he held several positions at Genentech, Inc., most notably as Vice President, Immunology Sales and Marketing. While at Genentech, he also helped to build and led the Commercial Development organization and led the Cardiovascular Marketing organization. Mr. Babler previously served at Eli Lilly and Company in positions focused on sales, sales management, global marketing, and business development. He presently serves on the Board of Directors of Neoleukin Therapeutics, Inc., Omega Alpha SPAC, and on the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. Mr. Babler received a Swiss Federal Diploma in Pharmacy from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and completed the Executive Development Program at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.