Dr. Rachel Abbott

Chief Executive Officer

Rachel Abbott joined Pan Cancer T in January 2023 as Chief Scientific Officer, bringing a wealth of scientific and industrial expertise in TCR-T cell therapies. She stepped up to become CEO in May 2023. Rachel began her biotech career in 2014 at Adaptimmune, where she oversaw the discovery of novel TCRs through T cell cloning, pipeline testing of affinity-enhanced TCRs, and large-scale T cell manufacturing for preclinical packages. She also led the pipeline development of a T cell therapy directed to PRAME and managed pre-IND safety and efficacy data packages for two next-generation NY-ESO targeting T cell products in partnership with GSK. Before joining Pan Cancer T, Rachel served for two years as Senior Director, Head of TCR Pipeline and Dark Antigen Research at Enara Bio. She holds a DPhil and an MBiochem in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry from the University of Oxford and was a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham for seven years.

Dr. Dora Hammerl

VP R&D, Co-Founder

Dora co-founded Pan Cancer T with Prof. Reno Debets in 2020. She brings 8 years of international experience in Immuno-oncology research. Prior to Pan Cancer T, Dora studied T cell evasive mechanisms in solid cancer as a Research Fellow at the Department of Medical Oncology (Erasmus MC fellowship and NWO Veni). She worked for 18 months at La Jolla Institute, San Diego, CA, in the field of tumor Immunology and then joined the Debets Laboratory at Erasmus MC, where she obtained her PhD in T cell immunity and TCR therapy for breast cancer. Dora has a background in Molecular Biology from the University of Vienna and received her MSc in Biopharmaceutical Sciences from Leiden University.

Dr. Reinout Hesselink

VP Process Development

Reinout is a seasoned professional in cell and gene therapies manufacturing, with over 17 years of experience in CMC, regulatory, and quality assurance. He has developed cell and gene therapy production processes from early clinical development to commercial products and has helped write and file IMPDs, INDs, and market applications. Reinout has previously held management positions at BioNTech, PhamaCell, and CiMaas.

Dr. Tom Holdich

Chief Medical Officer

Tom is a physician specializing in drug development, with over 38 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including 17 years in Big Pharma and 21 years in Biotech. He has served on the main Board of an AIM-listed UK Biotech company for 6 years as R&D Director. His speciality is Clinical Development, from Phase 1 through to Life Cycle Management in numerous therapeutic areas. For the last 13 years his focus has been oncology and especially T-cell therapy, including the NY-ESO, MAGE-A10, MAGE-A4 and AFP clinical development programmes at Adaptimmune. He holds a degree in medicine from The University of London and has been a Member of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine.

Lars Ottevanger

VP, Finance

Lars Ottevanger joined Pan Cancer T in December 2023, bringing extensive experience in finance, venture capital and biotech management. Lars has founded and sold a MedTech business in the surgical oncology industry and has served in (interim) CFO positions in start-ups and scale-ups in the MedTech- and BioTech industries. He has led numerous fundraising campaigns and has been involved in multiple financing rounds, securing over €100M in funding over the last 18 months. Lars holds an MSc in both Biomedical Sciences and Science-Based Business.

Marcel Zwaal

Head of Business Development

Marcel is a corporate finance and business professional with over 15 years of experience in the medical innovation and biotechnology field. He has supported and managed many innovative companies through their growth stages, from start-up to IPO and stock market listing. Marcel has worked in Corporate Development at Galapagos and Kiadis, served as CEO at several early-stage biotech companies, and held senior management positions at Crucell prior to its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in 2011. He holds an Executive Master of Finance and Control and a Finance BA MSc degree.

Dr. John Tchelingerian

Chairman

Dr. John Tchelingerian is a serial entrepreneur in life sciences, who combines scientific, business and dealmaking skills & experiences. As a veteran of the industry, he co-founded and/or lead several biotech companies. He is currently the Managing Partner of two specialized strategic advisory firms that he co-founded, The Connecting Architects and Silver Ocean Ventures. He raised a total of over €200 million as CEO of biotech companies, achieved with his teams to bring five drug candidates from research to the clinics (up to phase IIb/III) and realized several partnering, M&A deals and international IPO processes. As a scientist and innovator, John invented several patents in the field of cell therapy and drug delivery. He is a PhD graduate in Neurosciences from Pierre et Marie Curie University (Sorbonne University) in Paris.

Prof. Dr. Chris H. Bangma

Supervisory Director

Prof. Dr. Chris H. Bangma is urologist and Professor of the Department of Urology at Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Mr. Bangma has extensive experience as a Principle Investigator in early phase clinical trials and international surveillances in prostate cancer. He chaired several international consortia and working groups, such as the GIANT consortium within the European Sixth Framework Program for the clinical application of gene therapy. Mr. Bangma initiated the Anser Prostate Network of multidisciplinary diagnostic centres with centralized surgical care for prostate cancer in The Netherlands. As past President of the Dutch Urologic Society, he coordinates its research activities through the Dutch Urologic Research Organization.

Dr. Michel Briejer

Supervisory Director

Dr. Michel Briejer is managing partner and joined the venture capital firm Thuja Capital early 2008. He has contributed significantly to building the firm and its successful portfolio of early stage companies in the therapeutics and medical technology space.

Prior to joining Thuja, he held senior management positions in drug development both in the international pharmaceutical industry (e.g. Janssen Pharmaceutica (Belgium), Yamanouchi (currently Astellas Pharma)) as well as in the biotech industry (Crucell).

Mr Briejer holds an MSc degree in Pharmacy (Utrecht University) and a PhD in Pharmacology (Wageningen University), as well as a post-doctoral degree in Pharmaceutical Medicine (Dip.Phar.Med., European Center for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Basle).

Dharminder Chahal

Supervisory Director

Dharminder Chahal is owner and managing director of Exponential B.V. in which capacity he acts as consultant to Van Herk Investments and companies in the Van Herk Investments portfolio. Furthermore he is CEO and co-founder of SkylineDx a company based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and developing diagnostic tests in oncology. Mr. Chahal has built an extensive network in the global life science industry and created a strong track record in supporting successful companies in their journeys, a.o. Crucell sold to Johnson and Johnson, deVGen sold to Syngenta and Ablynx sold to Sanofi. Currently the main investments in the portfolio are Galapagos, Zealand Pharma (Denmark) and BioInvent (Sweden). As a board member or advisor he has been and still is active for several European companies and funds in the field of life sciences. In addition to his board membership at Medis, Mr. Chahal is Chairman of the Board of DCPrime, Sensara and Anemones Hospitality and Hotels (India), Board member of BioInvent (Sweden), VitalneXt and Ceradis and he is Observer of the Board at Bio2 Technologies (US), Miach Orthopaedics (US) and VBHC (India). Mr. Chahal previously held various positions in investment banking and asset management, including Kempen & Co and Robeco. Mr. Chahal obtained a master degree in Business Economics (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and a master degree cum laude in Aerospace Engineering (TU Delft).

Helen Tayton-Martin

Supervisory Director

Dr. Helen Tayton-Martin has broad pharmaceutical, consulting and biotech company-building experience. She served as Chief Business & Strategy Officer of Adaptimmune plc, a commercial cell therapy developer (NASDAQ: ADAP) until March 2025, a position held since October 2022 and previously CBO from 2017. As a Co-founder of Adaptimmune, Dr Tayton-Martin was its founding COO from 2008, a role in which she oversaw the transition of operations in the company from five to 300 staff, through transatlantic growth, multiple clinical, academic and commercial collaborations and private and public financing through to IPO. Dr. Tayton-Martin was responsible for all of Adaptimmune’s strategic partnerships including those with GlaxoSmithKline, Astellas, Genentech and Galapagos NV.

Prior to her 17 years with Adaptimmune, Dr. Tayton Martin spent 15 years working within the pharma, biotech and consulting environment in disciplines across preclinical and clinical development, outsourcing, strategic planning, due diligence, business development, alliance management and company operations. She has also served as a non executive director of Trillium Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq and TSX: TRIL) from October 2017 through to successful sale to Pfizer Inc. in November 2021 and is a current non-executive director of Evaxion A/S (NASDAQ: EVAX), a clinical-stage TechBio company specializing in developing AI-Immunology™ powered vaccines.

Helen holds a Ph.D. in molecular immunology from the University of Bristol, U.K. and an M.B.A. from London Business School.

Prof. Dr. Reno Debets (Co-Founder)

Head of Laboratory of Tumour Immunology, Erasmus MC

Prof. Debets, co-founder of Pan Cancer T, and professor in ‘T cell immunity and adoptive therapy of tumours’ has a 20-year track record in adoptive T cell therapy with key examples being: a phase I/II study in advanced renal cell cancer, the 1st clinical study of its nature in Europe; and a phase I/II study in advanced melanoma. He currently chairs the laboratory of Tumour Immunology, Erasmus MC, focusing on monitoring patient T-cell immunity; understanding and intervening with crosstalk between tumour cells and immune cells; and developing and testing adoptive T-cell therapies.

Prof. Dr. Chiara Bonini

Vita-Salute San Raffaele University Medical School

Prof. Dr. Chiara Bonini pioneered the clinical use of genetically engineered lymphocytes in the context of stem cell transplantation, leading to the first cell-based gene therapy product approved by EMA for oncologic diseases. Her group has extensive experience on cancer immunotherapy, genetic manipulation of T cells, including TCR/CAR gene transfer.

Dr. David Gilham

Executive Scientific Advisor, Ex-Celyad

Dr. David Gilham spent almost six years at Celyad Oncology, serving first as VP R&D and then Chief Scientific Officer, developing CAR-T cell therapies against cancer. Prior to joining Celyad Oncology, David was a Reader in the Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Manchester, UK and led the Clinical and Experimental Immunotherapy Group based within the Manchester Cancer Research Centre. There his research focused on engineering T cells for cancer therapy and developing preclinical studies to support translation into Phase I/II clinical trials with Professor Robert Hawkins.

Dr. Neil C. Sheppard

Head of the Therapeutic Innovation in NK cell (THINK) Lab & Adj. Assoc. Prof. of Path & Lab Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Ex-GSK

Dr. Neil Sheppard leads a lab focused on novel and enhanced CAR-T and NK therapies for cancer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Cellular Immunotherapies (CCI), where he also oversees the combination strategy for a clinical stage CAR-T as part of Prof Carl June’s team.
Educated in the UK at the Universities of Bristol and Oxford, Neil has 20 years’ experience with immunotherapies and vaccines, advancing multiple CAR-T and TCR-T programs through successful INDs into PhI FTIH, or PhI/II Immuno-Oncology combination studies. His experience includes over 12 years in Big Pharma (GSK and Pfizer) & Biotech (Tmunity).

Prof. Dr. Hans J Stauss

Director of Immunity & Transplantation, University College London

Prof. Dr. Hans Stauss is Director of the University College London Institute of Immunity & Transplantation. The main focus of his research is the analysis of antigen-specific T lymphocyte responses and the development of immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer, chronic infection, transplant rejection and autoimmune conditions. His group has been amongst the pioneering labs developing TCR gene therapy.

Prof. Dr. Henk M.W. Verheul

Professor of Medical Oncology,
Erasmus MC

Prof. Verheul has extensive experience in clinical oncology and has been Principal Investigator in more than two dozen clinical trials. He is currently Chair of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

About Us

Pan Cancer T is a biotech company dedicated to transforming cancer treatment through cutting-edge science.

Our Company

As a spin-out from the Erasmus MC in the Netherlands, we leverage over 20 years of pioneering research and clinical translation in adoptive T cell therapies.

Our team, with decades of expertise in TCR-T cell therapies, immuno-oncology, and biopharmaceuticals, is committed to advancing patient care and innovation. Our unique blend of scientific rigor, clinical expertise, and operational excellence empowers us to develop innovative TCR-T cell therapies that offer hope to patients facing the toughest cancer battles.

Driven by Expertise, United by Purpose

Leadership Team

Dr. Rachel Abbott

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Dora Hammerl

VP R&D, Co-Founder

Dr. Reinout Hesselink

VP Process Development

Dr. Tom Holdich

Chief Medical Officer

Lars Ottevanger

VP, Finance

Marcel Zwaal

Business Development

Lab Team

Rebecca Wijers

Sr. Research Technician & Lab Manager

Daphne Roelofs

Research Technician

Kim Kroese

Research Technician

Supervisory Board

Dr. John Tchelingerian

Chairman

Prof. Dr. Chris H. Bangma

Supervisory Director