Aprea Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, focused on developing and commercializing novel cancer therapeutics that target DNA damage response pathways. Aprea’s pioneering new approach to treat cancer exploits vulnerabilities associated with cancer cell mutations. This approach was developed to kill tumors but to minimize the effect on normal, healthy cells, decreasing the risk of toxicity that is frequently associated with chemotherapy and other treatments.
Aprea’s technology has potential applications across multiple cancer types, enabling it to target a range of tumors, including ovarian, colorectal, prostate, and breast cancers. The company’s lead programs are APR-1051, an oral, small-molecule inhibitor of WEE1 kinase, and ATRN-119, a small molecule ATR inhibitor, both in clinical development for solid tumor indications.
Aprea’s executive management team, Board of Directors and scientific founders are unified by their dedication to developing groundbreaking, precision therapeutics for patients with genetically defined cancers. Our team’s exceptional qualifications and deep expertise have accelerated Aprea’s mission and continue to fuel its growth as a leader in DDR-targeted therapeutics.
Oren Gilad, Ph.D., has served as Chief Executive Officer of Aprea Therapeutics since July 2022 and as President and a member of its Board of Directors since May 2022. He brings extensive biotechnology experience, with demonstrated leadership in building, financing, and advancing drug development programs across multiple stages. Prior to joining Aprea, Dr. Gilad was the founding President and CEO of Atrin Pharmaceuticals, guiding the company from initial concept through the successful development of its pipeline of anti-cancer therapies, ultimately leading to its acquisition by Aprea Therapeutics.
Under his leadership, multiple development programs progressed from discovery through IND-enabling studies and into clinical trials, particularly focusing on targeted therapy and precision medicine in oncology. Previously, Dr. Gilad spent 13 years in academia, publishing numerous high-impact scientific articles, including seminal research highlighting the ATR pathway as a critical target in cancer therapy. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania.
John P. Hamill, CPA, joined Aprea in January 2023 from Windtree Therapeutics where he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since 2020. He brings more than 30 years of financial leadership experience in the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and clinical research sectors. He has broad-based experience in financial, administrative, information technology, and facility functions, in addition to having successfully completed IPO and follow-on offerings for several pharmaceutical companies. John has also recently provided consulting services to various life science companies, headed up finance at Trevena, Inc., where he was instrumental in successfully raising equity; NephroGenex, Inc., where he actively led the IPO and subsequent financial restructuring and sale of the company; Savient Pharmaceuticals, where he led a sale process resulting in $120 million in proceeds; and PharmaNet where he successfully completed its sale for approximately $250 million, which then became known as PharmaNet Development Group, where he directed financial and administrative operations for the company. John received a B.S. in Accounting and Business and Computer Science from DeSales University and is a certified public accountant.
Eugene (Gene) Kennedy, MD, joined Aprea in early 2026 as Chief Medical Advisor. He brings over 15 years of clinical and industry experience to the team, including cross-functional leadership driving clinical development and regulatory strategies for oncology and immuno-oncology-focused organizations. Prior to Aprea, Gene was Chief Medical Officer at several pharmaceutical and biotech organizations, including Carisma Therapeutics, Galera Therapeutics, Innovative Cellular Therapeutics, Lumos Pharma, and NewLink Genetics. Before joining NewLink Genetics, Gene served as an Associate Professor of Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University and held leadership roles at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Louisiana State University. He received his M.D. from the Medical College of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia.
Mike Carleton, Ph.D., has served as Translational Medicine Advisor since May 2022. He brings over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry where he has held leadership roles in preclinical and clinical drug development. He most recently served as Vice President of Translational Medicine at Inipharm where the team developed an inhibitor to the oxidoreductase HSD17B13 for treatment of liver disease. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Translation Medicine at Mavupharma until Abbvie’s acquisition of Mavu and its ENPP1 inhibitor program. As Director of Translational Medicine at Bristol Myers Squibb, Dr. Carleton led clinical oncology biomarker development for the anti-CSF1R (Cabiralizumab) and anti-IL8 (BMS-986253) programs for which his team established the elevated serum IL-8 association with reduced clinical benefit to immune checkpoint blockade. Dr. Carleton also led research groups at Presage Biosciences, Matrix Genetics, and Rosetta Inpharmatics, a fully owned subsidiary of Merck. Within the Merck oncology franchise, Dr. Carleton was the biomarker lead for Merck’s WEE1 inhibitor (MK-1775) and its PARP inhibitor programs prior to their out-licensing to AstraZeneca (AZD1775, Adavosertib) and Tesaro (Niraparib). Dr. Carleton obtained his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin, was a CRI postdoctoral fellow, Arthritis Young Investigator, and currently serves part-time as Senior Scientific Director at The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research.
Philippe Pultar, MD, joined Aprea Therapeutics as Senior Medical Advisor in October 2024. He has extensive experience in oncology drug development with a track record of successfully leading multiple programs through late-stage development and regulatory approval. Previously, he was Vice President, Clinical Development at Zentalis Pharmaceuticals where he led the strategy and execution of the global clinical development of azenosertib, a WEE1 inhibitor, working closely with co-development partners GSK, Pfizer, and Zentera (China). Before his tenure with Zentalis, Dr. Pultar spent seven years at Novartis Oncology, including serving as Senior Clinical Development Medical Director, leading multiple clinical trials and seeing several programs through regulatory approval. Earlier in his career, Dr. Pultar held senior clinical development roles at Agennix AG, and ImClone Systems, and worked at GPC Biotech, ALTANA Pharma, REDEON and MEDICERCLE. Dr. Pultar earned his medical degree from Université de Médecine de Poitiers, France, practiced as a physician for several years, and is a medical consultant for global biotech companies.
Ze’ev Weiss, CPA, B.S., has served as Chief Business Advisor for Aprea since May 2022. Ze’ev brings over 20 years of broad and extensive biopharmaceutical industry experience in strategic, operational, and corporate development in the emerging and established healthcare industry. He previously served as Chief Business Officer of Atrin Pharmaceuticals Inc. at the time of its acquisition by Aprea. Previously, Ze’ev served as the CEO of a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, leading it through its IPO on the NASDAQ as well as multiple collaboration agreements with leading, global pharmaceutical companies. Prior to that experience, Ze’ev was Head of Life Sciences Strategic Consulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Israel. Ze’ev holds a B.A in accounting and is a certified public accountant. He also earned a B.S. in Biology and has completed M.S. in Neuro-Biochemistry studies from Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Brian Wiley joined Aprea as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategy in November 2023. Brian has over 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with over 25 years dedicated to oncology. His experience as a senior BD executive includes numerous licensing transactions, collaborations, M&A, as well as public and private financings. His commercialization experience includes multiple product launches in oncology. Brian has been a major contributor to licensing and M&A transactions exceeding $5 billion and financing in excess of $150 million. Brian is the Principal and Founder of Boston BioConsulting, LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in business development and corporate strategy for the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to founding Boston BioConsulting, Brian served as Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Business Development at NewLink Genetics. Brian also served in various leadership and management roles at Celgene, Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, Millennium, and Aventis. Brian has a marketing degree from Pennsylvania State University.
Richard Peters, M.D., Ph.D. has served as a member of our Board of Directors since June 2020, including as Chairman since August 2023. Dr. Peters brings more than 25 years of experience developing new therapies for difficult-to-treat diseases. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of The Pharming Group, NV, Lead Independent Director of Kineta, Inc., and Executive Chairman and Founder of TellBio, Inc., having previously served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director at Yumanity Therapeutics Inc. Dr. Peters joined Yumanity from Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he was President & Chief Executive Officer. Prior to Merrimack, he served as Senior Vice President and Head, Global Rare Diseases at Genzyme (Sanofi). Dr. Peters is a Harvard-trained physician and scientist, has served on the faculty at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and completed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellowship in biophysics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Peters commenced his medical studies at UC Louvain in Belgium and holds M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Oren Gilad, Ph.D., has served as Chief Executive Officer since July 2022 and as President and a member of our Board of Directors since May 2022. He previously served as President and CEO of Atrin Pharmaceuticals Inc. at the time of its acquisition by Aprea. He brings extensive experience across multiple phases of drug development. Prior to founding Atrin in 2011, Dr. Gilad authored several high-impact scientific publications over the course of a 13-year academic career, including a demonstration of the importance of the ATR pathway in cancer development and treatment. Dr. Gilad holds a Ph.D. from University of California at Davis and a B.Sc. from the Hebrew University.
Jean-Pierre Bizzari, M.D., joined the Aprea Board in August 2023 with a remarkable and distinguished career in oncology. He has been responsible for numerous global approvals of several billion-dollar therapies, including: Fotomustine, Taxotere, Revlimid, Abraxane, Vidaza, PTCL, Eloxatin, CPT-11, Gliadel, Rasburicase, and Pomalidomide to name a few. He has been involved in acquisition and licensing agreements with several major pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Bizzari is a member and leader on many scientific committees and is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the National Cancer Institute in France; a Board member of the European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and Chairman of the EORTC New Drug Advisory Committee. He currently is on the Boards of Halozyme, ADC Therapeutics, NETRIS Pharma, and Oxford BioTherapeutics. Most recently, Dr. Bizzari was the Group Head Clinical Development Oncology at Celgene. He led global clinical development conducting over 25 Phase 3 trials, was responsible for global operations of over 950 people and was chairman of the Hematology Oncology development committee. Prior to Celgene, Dr. Bizzari was the VP of clinical development oncology at Sanofi-Aventis where he was responsible for worldwide clinical development and approvals. He also served as VP of clinical development oncology at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer where he shepherded a deep pipeline of oncology candidates. Dr. Bizzari holds a degree in mathematics and completed his medical studies in Nice, France. He completed his residency in oncology at Pitie Salpetriere Hospital in Paris.
Marc Duey has served as a member of our Board of Directors since May 2022 and previously served on the Board of Directors of Atrin Pharmaceuticals Inc. at the time of its acquisition by Aprea. He brings over three decades of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Mr. Duey is the Founder, President and CEO of ProMetrics Inc. Prior to founding ProMetrics, Mr. Duey was founder and President of DuWest Research, an international management consulting firm for diagnostic and biotechnology companies. He serves on the Board of Trustees of International House Philadelphia and is a member of the Leadership Council of the Wistar Institute. He is an active member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), the American Association of Pharmaceutical Science (AAPS), and the Licensing Executive Society (LES). Mr. Duey holds a B.S. and an M.S. degree in science from the University of Ottawa, and an M.B.A. from the Ivey Business School at Western University, London, Canada.
Michael Grissinger has served as a member of our Board of Directors since May 2022 and previously served on the Board of Directors of Atrin Pharmaceuticals Inc. at the time of its acquisition by Aprea. Mr. Grissinger brings to Aprea extensive experience in business and corporate development, finance, marketing, and strategic planning in the pharmaceutical industry. He spent 22 years at Johnson & Johnson, holding positions of Vice President and Head, Worldwide Pharmaceutical Licensing as well as Vice President and Head of Worldwide Pharmaceutical Corporate Development and M&A. He has led transactions and teams across a broad span of deal types, geographies, and therapeutic areas. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Grissinger spent 20 years in the healthcare industry with Ciba-Geigy and SmithKline Beckman. Mr. Grissinger holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Juniata College and an M.B.A. from Temple University-Fox School of Business.
Gabriela Gruia, M.D., has served as a member of our Board of Directors since May 2023. Dr. Gruia brings over 25 years of clinical, regulatory and life science leadership experience. Dr. Gruia currently serves as an Independent Board Director at Tessa Therapeutics, TScan Therapeutics, and Molecular Templates. Prior to her time as a consultant, Dr. Gruia served as the Chief Development Officer at Ichnos Sciences Inc. where she led clinical development activities. Prior to that, she was Senior Vice President and Head of Drug Regulatory Affairs for Novartis Oncology, where she led an oncology regulatory affairs organization which oversaw worldwide regulatory submissions and approvals of twelve molecular oncological entities, and over 100 sNDAs and MAAs. Previously, Dr. Gruia held leadership roles in research and development at Novartis, Pfizer, Pharmacia, Aventis and Rhone Poulenc. Dr. Gruia received her M.D. from Bucharest Medical School in Romania and a Masters in Breast Pathology and Mammography from Rene Huguenin/Curie Institute Cancer Center in Paris, France. She received her training in oncology and hematology from Rene Descartes University in Paris, France.
John B. Henneman III, J.D., has served as a member of our Board of Directors since August 2019 and was appointed Lead Independent Director in September 2020. Mr. Henneman has more than 25 years of combined financial and operational management experience in the life sciences industry. From July 2018 until November 2018, Mr. Henneman served as the Chief Administrative Officer of NewLink Genetics Corporation, a biotechnology company, and prior to that, served as NewLink’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from October 2014 to July 2018. From 1998 to 2014, Mr. Henneman served at Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp., a publicly held medical device company, in various capacities. Before becoming Integra’s Chief Financial Officer in 2007, Mr. Henneman was Chief Administrative Officer, responsible for Integra’s regulatory affairs, quality systems, clinical affairs, human resources, information systems and legal affairs functions, the management of Integra’s surgical instruments business, and Integra’s business development function. Mr. Henneman serves on the boards of directors of R1 RCM, Inc., a publicly held revenue cycle technology and management services company, SeaSpine Holdings Corporation, a publicly held medical technology company, and Alafair Biosciences, Inc., a privately held medical device company.
Rifat Pamukcu, M.D., has served as a member of our Board of Directors since May 2022 and previously served on the Board of Directors of Atrin Pharmaceuticals Inc. at the time of its acquisition by Aprea. Dr. Pamukcu has extensive experience in pharmaceuticals and drug development, with a particular focus on oncology. He currently serves as the President and CEO of RxMP Therapeutics, Inc. He was also a co-founder, Director and CSO of Cell Pathways (NASDAQ:CLPA) until its acquisition by OSI Pharmaceuticals in 2003. Dr. Pamukcu has been a member of the Advisory Council to the National Prostate Cancer Coalition, the GI Oncology Task Force of the American Gastroenterological Association, Executive Steering Committee of the Gastroenterology Research Group, and Scientific Advisory Board of the Hereditary Colon Cancer Association. He has authored or co-authored over 110 journal articles, book chapters, and abstracts in the fields of gastroenterology, cancer, cancer chemoprevention, and signal transduction systems and is an inventor on over 150 issued or pending patents in the areas of drug discovery and development of agents for cancer prevention and therapeutics, inflammatory bowel disease, osteoporosis and the prevention and treatment of hemorrhage. Dr. Pamukcu holds a B.A. in Biology from John Hopkins University and an M.D. from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center and his Fellowship in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Chicago.
Bernd Seizinger, M.D., Ph.D., has served as a member of our Board of Directors since 2016. Dr. Seizinger currently serves as Chairman or Board member in a number of public and private biotech companies in the U.S., Europe, and Canada, including Oxford BioTherapeutics, Aprea, CryptoMedix, Oncolytics, and BioInvent. Previously he was President and Chief Executive Officer of GPC Biotech; Vice President, Oncology Drug Discovery and, in parallel, Vice President, Corporate and Academic Alliances at Bristol-Myers Squibb; Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Genome Therapeutics; and held Senior Faculty positions at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and Princeton University.
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