Leadership
George C. Prendergast, PhD, LIMR President and CEO
Dr. George Prendergast was appointed president and CEO of the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research (LIMR) in 2004. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he was graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in Biochemistry in 1983. He obtained his Master of Science in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University in 1984 and his PhD in Molecular Biology from Princeton University in 1989. Dr. Prendergast is professor, Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Jefferson Medical College, and co-leader, Cancer Cell Biology and Signaling Program, Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
With experience in the pharmaceutical industry as well as in academia, Dr. Prendergast is an accomplished cancer researcher recognized for his expertise in cancer biology, signal transduction, and molecular therapeutics. An emergent theme in Dr. Prendergast’s work has been the development of new therapeutics based on modifier genes that strongly affect disease susceptibility and therapeutic response. In his career he has become known as an innovator who has the ability to translate basic research findings toward clinical application, most recently in developing IDO inhibitors as a novel class of drugs to dramatically improve the immune response and therapeutic outcome in cancers treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy or immunotherapy.
Dr. Prendergast has contributed over 180 publications in the field of cancer research, and he is an inventor or co-inventor on 50 published or pending patents.
Susan Gilmour, PhD, LIMR Deputy Director
Dr. Susan Gilmour has been a professor at LIMR since 1990 and assumed the role of Deputy Director in July 2018. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Virginia where she was also a member of the first women’s varsity crew team. Her PhD in toxicology and pharmacology was awarded from Rutgers University/University of Medicine and Dentistry, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular carcinogenesis at The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia.
In addition to her roles at LIMR, she is a member of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University and is an adjunct professor of pathology at Drexel University.
For more than 26 years, Dr. Gilmour’s research has been supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has served on numerous study sections to review grants for both the NIH and the U.S. Department of Defense. In her lab, she is defining mechanisms by which tumor modifiers, such as polyamines and thrombin, support and accelerate the development of cancer to a malignant, metastatic state. She is also investigating how polyamines recruit mutant stem cell populations to promote the early development of tumors. She is translating her basic research findings to novel polyamine- and thrombin-targeted therapies that may contribute to increased survival in cancer patients.
Matt Finley, PhD, MBA, Director, LIMR Research Administration
Dr. Finley was appointed Director of Research Administration at LIMR in 2020. He is a graduate of Thomas Jefferson University where he was graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology in 2004. He earned his PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Temple University School of Medicine in 2009, followed by a cardiac immunology postdoctoral fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He earned his MBA from the University of Maryland in 2016.
His experience ranges from academic and translational science to clinical and industrial roles. Prior to joining LIMR, Dr. Finley held positions of increasing responsibility in biotechnology companies, including Personal Genome Diagnostics, QIAGEN and SABiosciences.
For LIMR, Dr. Finley is responsible for the oversight of several LIMR departments including plant operations, the vivarium, research services, histology, equipment maintenance and receiving, as well as programs that include technology transfer, invention reporting and monitoring, non-clinical research agreements, staff immigration, and recruitment and setup of biomedical companies to be incubated at LIMR. Contact: [email protected], or call 484.476.8173.
Board of trustees
Officers
- Peter H. Havens, Board Chairman; Chairman & Portfolio Manager, Baldwin Management, LLC
- George C. Prendergast, PhD, President
- Tam Mai-Nguyen, MBA, Interim Treasurer
- John Wellenbach, Secretary
Trustees
- Alice Chase, RN
- Jonathan C. Fox, MD, PhD
- Paul B. Gilman, MD
- Leila Gordon
- Karen Gotting-Smith, PhD
- Peter H. Havens
- Peter R. Kowey, MD
- I. Wistar Morris, III, MBA, CFA
- Amber Salzman, PhD
- Sara Senior
- Elizabeth Wilkins, RN
- Katie Galbraith, MBA, FACHE
- Paul M. Coady, MD
- Joseph Gobern, MD
- Steven D. Higgins
- Lawrence Livornese, MD
- John J. Lynch III, FACHE
- George Prendergast, PhD
- Alfred W. Putnam, Jr., Esq.
- Patrick Ross, MD, PhD