Adela Announces Executive and Board of Directors Appointments and Formation of Scientific Advisory Board

Chris Parker appointed as Chief Business Officer

Lisa Alderson joins Adela's Board as Independent Director

Scientific Advisory Board comprising experts in cancer biology, machine learning, and cancer screening has been formed

TORONTO, May 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Adela, Inc., focused on the detection of cancer and other high-morbidity, high-mortality conditions through a blood test, has made appointments to the Executive Team and Board of Directors that add to the deep industry and scientific expertise of the current team. The company has also formed a Scientific Advisory Board comprised of renowned scientists and clinicians.

"I am thrilled to welcome Chris Parker, Chief Business Officer to Adela's Executive Team," said Scott Bratman, Chief Executive Officer at Adela. "With the addition of Chris's leadership we are optimally positioned to pursue our ambitious goal of dramatically improving outcomes for people with cancer through improved detection and management."

Chris Parker joins Adela from Exact Sciences, where he served as Vice President, Business Development and was responsible for inorganic growth strategy. Prior to Exact Sciences, he was Chief Business officer at Cellular Dynamics International and has held leadership positions at Affymetrix and GE Health Care.

Lisa Alderson has joined Adela's Board as an Independent Director.

"Lisa is a seasoned leader and operator within the healthcare space who brings 20 years of experience building early-stage companies," said David Scheer, Chairman of Adela's Board of Directors. "Her experience will be invaluable to Adela as we advance the organization towards commercialization."

Lisa is the co-founder and CEO of Genome Medical, the leading genomic care delivery company enabling broad-based access to genomic medicine. Lisa previously served as the Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of Invitae, and was also part of the start-up team at Genomic Health.

Lisa joins existing Board Directors: David Scheer; David Bonita, MD; Scott Bratman, MD, PhD; Paul Brown, PhD; Andrew ElBardissi, MD; Maneesh Jain, PhD; and Robert Weisskoff, PhD.

Adela has also formed a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) with deep expertise in cancer biology, machine learning, and cancer screening. The SAB is comprised of:

• Gary Bader, PhD, Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics at The Donnelly Centre at the University of Toronto.
• Sarah-Jane Dawson, MBBS, FRACP, PhD, Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Melbourne, Co-Head of the Cancer Biology & Therapeutics Program and Head of the Molecular Biomarkers & Translational Genomics Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
• Brian Druker, MD, Director of the Knight Cancer Institute, Associate Dean for Oncology of the OHSU School of Medicine, and the JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research.
• Allan Hackshaw, MSc, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology & Medical Statistics at University College London (UCL), and Director of the Cancer Research UK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre.
• Sylvia K. Plevritis, MS, PhD, Professor and Chair of Biomedical Data Science, Professor of Radiology, and Program Director of the Biomedical Informatics Graduate Training Program at Stanford University.
• James Zou, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Data Science at Stanford University and Chan-Zuckerberg Investigator.   

The collective experience of this highly distinguished SAB will be instrumental to Adela's efforts to develop an industry-leading assay supported by robust and compelling clinical evidence. 

About Adela

Adela is focused on the detection of cancer and other high-morbidity, high-mortality conditions through a routine blood test. The company's genome-wide methylome enrichment platform captures information from small quantities of cell-free DNA and applies machine learning to detect and classify underlying disease. The platform specifically isolates the highly-informative (methylated) regions of the genome through a high-affinity enrichment process, enabling it to more efficiently capture broad genomic information and preserve it during sequencing compared to other platforms that use enzymatic or chemical treatment (bisulfite conversion). The technology is initially being developed for use across the cancer continuum for detection, diagnosis, and management, and in the future will be applied to other conditions beyond cancer. Adela's investors are F-Prime Capital, OrbiMed, Deerfield Management, Decheng Capital, and RA Capital Management. Find more information at adelabio.com

SOURCE Adela