George C. Prendergast, PhD

President and CEO, Lankenau Institute for Medical Research

Dr. George C. Prendergast serves as President and CEO of the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research (LIMR). Dr. Prendergast, a distinguished researcher with nearly four decades of experience, joined LIMR in 2004.

As President and CEO of LIMR, Dr. Prendergast charts the scientific vision and strategic growth of the institute, guiding research priorities, overseeing translational initiatives and stewarding partnerships with academic, industry and funding entities.

After obtaining advanced training as an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at NYU Medical Center, he joined the department of cancer research at Merck Research Laboratories. In 1993, Dr. Prendergast was appointed assistant professor and later associate professor at The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, where he was designated a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences. Subsequently, he became the senior director of the Cancer Research Group at the DuPont Pharmaceutical Company.

In 2002, he moved his research efforts from Wistar and DuPont to LIMR, where he has pioneered new principles to prognose and treat advanced cancers. In particular, Dr. Prendergast and his team at LIMR have developed new immune therapy principles currently in clinical testing stages, including at Main Line Health hospitals, which act by stimulating a patient's immune system to effectively destroy metastatic cancer cells.

Dr. Prendergast is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where, as a Benjamin Franklin Scholar, he earned a bachelor's degree magna cum laude with distinction in biochemistry. He received his master's degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University and his doctorate in molecular biology from Princeton University, where he has been recognized as one of the most historically 250 significant alumni.

Along with his scientific and leadership roles, Dr. Prendergast has also served as the Editor-in-Chief of Cancer Research, one of the most highly cited journals in the field. In 2025, he was recognized as one of the top 2% most impactful scientists in the world by the Stanford-Elsevier survey. As the leader of LIMR, the research center for Main Line Health, his world-class reputation is marked by numerous recognitions and honors.