Paul Peter Tak, M.D., Ph.D. FMedSci

Paul Peter Tak, M.D., Ph.D., FMedSci, has served as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the board of directors of Candel since September 2020; he oversaw the IPO process on the Nasdaq in 2021.

He received his medical degree cum laude from the Amsterdam University Medical Center and was trained as an internist, rheumatologist, and immunologist at Leiden University Medical Center, where he also received his Ph.D. Dr. Tak has been Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Diego. Next, he served as Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at the Amsterdam University Medical Center. Dr. Tak has pioneered preclinical and clinical research on the role of the vagus nerve in chronic inflammation. This work provided a platform from which to explore bioelectronics as a therapeutic approach in autoimmune disease.

He has published ~600 papers in peer-reviewed journals (H-index 142) and received numerous awards. He has been elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (U.K.). At GlaxoSmithKline he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Immunology Officer, and Global Development Leader from 2011 to 2018. In his role as Global Head of a cluster of Therapy Area Units at GSK (Dermatology, ImmunoInflammation, Infectious Disease, and Oncology), he oversaw the creation of a portfolio of new medicines, including anti-CCL17 antibody, gepotidacin, belimumab sc (approved in 2017 [Benlysta® sc]), mafodotin (approved in 2020 [Blenrep®]), cabotegravir/rilpivirine (approved in 2021 [Cabenuva®]), and tapinarof (acquired by Dermavant Sciences; approved in 2022 [VTAMAR®]). Dr. Tak was the Chair of the Scientific Review Board, the governing body accountable for the scientific assessment of GSK’s R&D portfolio. He was also the President and CEO of Tempero Pharmaceuticals (acquired by GSK). From 2018 to 2020, Dr. Tak served as venture partner at Flagship Pioneering and also as President and CEO of Kintai Therapeutics (merged with Senda Biosciences). In addition, he has served as board director of Galvani Bioelectronics, ViiV Healthcare, and Omega Therapeutics. Currently, he is also on the Board of Sitryx Therapeutics (co-founder), Levicept, and he is the Chair of the Board of Citryll. He is a 2021 PharmaVOICE100 honoree (100 most inspiring people in life sciences), was included in ‘The Medicine Maker Power List 2023’, and ranked #120 in the 2023 Edition of the World Ranking of Top 1000 Scientists in the area of Immunology.