DELFI Diagnostics Appoints Charles Newton to Board of Directors

Veteran biotech CFO and former healthcare investment banker joins the DELFI board as the company advances FirstLook Lung toward a pivotal data readout and FDA submission

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- DELFI Diagnostics, Inc., developer of innovative AI-powered blood-based tests that leverage cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragmentomics for cancer detection and monitoring, today announced the appointment of Charles "Charlie" Newton to its Board of Directors. Mr. Newton brings nearly three decades of healthcare finance and executive leadership experience to DELFI as the company reads out pivotal data that advances its lead product, FirstLook™ Lung, toward FDA submission and positions it for broad commercial adoption.

"Charlie's deep financial expertise combined with his experience with emerging companies gives him a unique and valuable perspective. We are thrilled he has chosen to join us in our mission to deliver a paradigm-changing screening test for lung cancer," said Liz Homans, Chair of the DELFI Diagnostics Board of Directors.

"Charlie's addition to our Board reflects where DELFI is today — we are on the cusp of unblinding pivotal clinical data, and we have an FDA submission on the horizon. We welcome Charlie to the Board and our mission to change the future of lung cancer screening. I look forward to his counsel as we evaluate transformative partnerships that could accelerate our growth and clinical impact," said Susan Tousi, Chief Executive Officer of DELFI Diagnostics.

"DELFI is tackling one of the most important unmet needs in oncology, and the combination of a differentiated fragmentomics platform, an integrated AI approach, a clear path to FDA approval and broad reimbursement makes this an exciting time to join the Board," said Mr. Newton.

Mr. Newton most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Lyell Immunopharma, where he led the company's initial public offering, one of the largest biotech IPOs in NASDAQ history, and oversaw finance, corporate development, investor relations, and corporate strategy. Prior to Lyell, he spent more than 25 years in healthcare investment banking, including senior leadership roles as Managing Director and Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking in the Americas at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse, and as Managing Director and Head of Western Region Healthcare Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley. Across his investment banking career, he advised on approximately $200 billion in mergers and acquisitions and helped clients raise nearly $60 billion in capital.

Mr. Newton currently serves on the boards of directors of Novavax, Inc., Coherus Oncology, Inc., and Keros Therapeutics, Inc. He previously served on the boards of 2seventy bio, Inc. until its acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb, and Carmot Therapeutics until its acquisition by Roche. Mr. Newton holds an M.B.A. from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a B.S. in Finance from Miami University.

About DELFI Diagnostics

DELFI Diagnostics is developing next-generation, blood-based tests that are convenient, accessible, and reliable, offering a new way to help detect cancer. DELFI's proprietary technology leverages advanced AI to analyze patterns of circulating cell-free DNA fragments in the blood, an approach known as fragmentomics, to help detect lung cancer with high sensitivity. FirstLook Lung, the first commercially available blood-based screening test for lung cancer in the United States, serves individuals eligible for lung cancer screening through a simple blood draw that integrates with routine blood work. With a negative predictive value of 99.8 percent, the test identifies individuals at elevated risk for lung cancer, including early-stage disease, and guides them toward follow-up with guideline-recommended low-dose CT. Through novel health system partnerships, DELFI is pioneering electronic medical record (EMR) integration that makes blood-based testing available to historically underserved populations. FirstLook Lung has not been cleared or approved by the FDA.

DELFI-Tumor Fraction (DELFI-TF) is a liquid biopsy research service for monitoring late-stage cancer patients during their course of treatment. As a versatile precision medicine platform, DELFI-TF provides a non-invasive, tissue-free, and tumor-agnostic quantitative estimate of tumor burden at the time of the blood draw. Based on the standard DELFI cfDNA assay, DELFI-TF overcomes many of the barriers of currently available monitoring products, such as cost, turnaround time, sensitivity, and tissue biopsy, while maintaining market-level performance. DELFI-TF provides critical therapeutic monitoring insights across all solid cancer and treatment types by establishing molecular profiles, tracking therapeutic effectiveness, and identifying emerging resistance patterns earlier than traditional methods. DELFI-TF has not been cleared or approved by the FDA and is intended for research use only.

To learn more about DELFI Diagnostics, visit DELFIDiagnostics.com

SOURCE DELFI Diagnostics