Vaccitech plc announced the appointment of Nadège Pelletier, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Dr. Pelletier is stepping into the role formerly held by Tom Evans, Ph.D., who is retiring but will remain involved as a scientific consultant to the company. Dr. Pelletier will lead Vaccitech's scientific teams in all phases of drug discovery and platform development, as well as build and oversee the strategic technical direction of the company.

Dr. Pelletier brings extensive experience to Vaccitech in the areas of immunology, inflammation and infectious diseases. She joins Vaccitech from the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research and prior to that Roche Pharma Research & Early Development, where she served as Project Leader in the fields of autoimmunity, inflammation and infectious diseases. At Novartis, Dr. Pelletier was a discovery leader in a fast-track, multi-indication early clinical program on tolerance induction, and was responsible for maintaining accountability in building solid preclinical packages, biomarker strategies, and translational plans for disease focus and indication expansion.

Prior to her role at Novartis, Dr. Pelletier was responsible for several preclinical and clinical projects in all phases of development to restore immune balance in autoimmunity and chronic infectious diseases, and was a key contributor to advancing immune modulation strategies for chronic Hepatitis B and respiratory infections. In addition to her experience with Novartis and Roche, Dr. Pelletier also served as a Senior Scientist at Merck-Serono in Geneva, Switzerland, and as a postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Dr. Pelletier holds a Ph.D. in immunology from Claude Bernard University, ENS-Lyon, in Lyon, France and a Master of Science in Genetics and Immunology from ENS-Lyon.