Freenome, a privately held biotech company, announced today that Lance Baldo, M.D. has joined the company as chief medical officer.
Dr. Baldo has more than 20 years of clinical, product development and operational experience, and will report to Freenome CEO, Mike Nolan.
In his role, Dr. Baldo oversees all aspects of Freenome’s clinical development, medical and scientific affairs, quality and regulatory teams. His initial focus will be on Freenome’s expanding capabilities beyond colorectal cancer (CRC), including launching additional clinical and real world data (RWD) studies to test the platform for multiple cancers.
Most recently, Dr. Baldo served as chief medical officer of Adaptive Biotechnologies where he led clinical development, quality, regulatory and health policy to support a portfolio of clinical diagnostics and therapeutics. Previously, he held numerous roles with the Roche Group and its affiliates, including as senior vice president and head of U.S. medical affairs at Genentech. Lance holds an MD from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and a BA in Biology from Johns Hopkins University.
“We’re thrilled Lance is joining us during this exciting time,” said Mike Nolan, chief executive officer, Freenome. “His strong medical insight and experience in leading high-performing teams will help us drive growth as we expand our platform capabilities and bring our tests to market.”
The company is in the final stages of PREEMPT CRC, one of the largest registrational studies to validate Freenome’s multiomics platform for CRC screening among average-risk adults. Freenome recently launched the Vallania Study, a clinical study to evaluate and extend the platform for the early detection of multiple cancers.
“Early detection changes the entire landscape of cancer,” said Baldo. “Freenome is determined to make screening easy, personalized and convenient, with the potential to impact so many lives. I’m excited to play a role in making that a reality.”