Kai-Xian Chen, Ph.D., joined our company as Director in August 2018. From 2007 to 2017, he served as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. From 2005 to 2014, Professor Chen served as President of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. From 2011 to 2018, Professor Chen served as President of the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology. Prior to that, from 1993 to 2004, Professor Chen served as Deputy Director and later, Director of Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, or SIMM, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Professor Chen has as also served as Principal Scientist for two National Basic Research Programs by the Ministry of Science and Technology, or MOST. Since 2001, professor Chen has served successively as the member of the Chief Specialists Board and the deputy chief technical officer of the major science and technology projects "innovative drugs and modernization of traditional Chinese medicine" and "Innovative Drug Research & Development", where he participated in the organization and promotion of new drug research and development for the PRC's 10th-13th Five Year Plans. In 1999, Professor Chen was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Prior to that, from 1985 to 1988, he conducted postdoctoral research at Institutde Biologie Physico-Chimique in Paris. Professor Chen started his academic career at SIMM as an Associate Professor, where he later reached the level of Full Professor.
Professor Chen received his Master and Ph.D. Degree at the Chinese Academy of Science, and his Bachelor of Science from Fudan University.
John D. Diekman, Ph.D., has been our Independent Director since 2017. Dr. Diekman is founding partner of 5AM Ventures, where he has served since 2002. He is chairman of the board of directors of IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. an oncology target discovery company; director of Cleave Therapeutics, Inc., a cancer therapeutic company; and director of Wildcat Discovery Technologies, Inc., a technology company that discovers materials for energy storage applications; charter trustee of Princeton University; chairman of the board of directors of The Scripps Research Institute; and a member of the advisory board of the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California. During the last five years, Dr. Diekman also served as director of Calibrium LLC, a biopharmaceutical research company focused on diabetes and other metabolic diseases; Cellular Research, Inc., a single-cell genomics startup; and PhaseRx Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing mRNA treatments for life-threatening inherited liver diseases in children.
Dr. Diekman holds an A.B. in Organic Chemistry from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University.
Tao Fu has been a member of our Board of Directors since 2017, and our President & Chief Operating Officer since September 2018. Prior to joining Zai Lab, he worked at Portola Pharmaceuticals, where he served as Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial and Business Officer, responsible for commercial operations, marketing, sales and business development functions. Prior to joining Portola in June 2015, Tao was Vice President and Head of Mergers & Acquisitions and Alliance Management at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). At BMS, he was responsible for the company's corporate development, alliance management and venture activities. Between 2003 and 2014, he held several leadership positions with increasing responsibilities at Janssen, the pharmaceuticals group of Johnson & Johnson, most recently as Vice President, Business Development, where he led global M&A activities. He also has experience in business development, commercial strategy and management consulting with McKinsey & Company and Becton Dickinson.
Tao holds an M.S. in biology from the University of Rochester and an M.B.A in finance and marketing from Vanderbilt University. He did his undergraduate studies in biology at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
William Lis has been our Independent Director since October 2018. He has 28 years of biopharmaceutical experience. He is the Executive Chairman, and interim CEO of Jasper Therapeutics, Inc. where he led the company's 2019 Series A financing. Previously, Mr. Lis served as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2009 until 2018 after serving as Chief Operating Officer. Under his leadership, Portola successfully grew from a discovery-stage company to a fully integrated R&D and commercial organization, and independently discovered and developed Andexxa® and Bevyxxa® through commercial launch, and advanced cerdulatinib into clinical development. He led corporate partnerships and private and public financings including an initial public offering in 2013. The company grew into a multi-billion valuation company during his tenure.
Mr. Lis held executive positions at Scios, Inc. (a Johnson & Johnson company) where he last served as Sr. Vice President of Business Development and New Product Development, having led efforts for the in-licensing, development and pre-commercial launch for Xarelto®; He also held positions of increasing responsibility at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (previously COR Therapeutics, Inc.) and Rhone Poulenc Rorer in sales, marketing, medical affairs and business development. He was involved in the U.S. commercial launch of several products, including Integrilin®, Lovenox® and Rilutek®. Mr. Lis served as a member of the Bio Board of Directors for Emerging Companies and is currently an independent Director of Eidos Therapeutics, Inc. and Zai Laboratories, Inc.
Mr. Lis holds a B.S. from the University of Maryland.
He previously served as President and CEO of Abraxis BioScience, Inc., prior to the company's eventual acquisition by Celgene Corporation in 2010. In 2008 Lonnie served as Vice Chairman of Eisai Corporation of North America following Eisai's acquisition of MGI PHARMA, where he served as President and CEO beginning in 2003 and previously Executive Vice President since 1999. This followed him serving as a member of the founding management team of a venture-stage biotech company in 1997.
Mr. Moulder began his career as a clinical pharmacist followed by a seventeen year career at predecessor companies of Sanofi, beginning with Marion Laboratories in 1981.
Mr. Moulder is a Temple University Trustee, Chair of the Trustee Committee for Research and Chair of the Temple University Japan (TESS) Board. He is a Council Member for both the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Lonnie is Chair of the Board of Directors of Trevena, Inc. and previously served on the Boards of Cubist Pharmaceuticals and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).
Mr. Moulder received a Pharmacy degree from Temple University in 1980 and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1997.Dr Adjei has served on a number of US National Cancer Institute committees. From 2007 to 2013, he was Chair of the NIH Study Section NCRR Clinical Research Review Committee, reviewing CTSAs. From 2010 – 2014, he was a Member of the Clinical Oncology Study Section (CONC), and from 2013-2017, he was a member of NCI IRG Subcommittee A, reviewing Cancer Centers. He is currently co-chair of the Thoracic Malignancies Steering Committee of NCI. He has also served on various committees of professional societies (AACR, ASCO, ESMO, IASLC). Dr Adjei is currently serving on the Committee on Diagnosing and Treating Adult Cancers of the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, tasked with providing a report on this topic to the US government (Social Security Administration). He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, and the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of JTO Clinical and Research Reports.
Dr Adjei's research is focused on experimental therapeutics and clinical drug development. He has been the principal investigator for over 70 early phase clinical trials. He has served on scientific advisory boards for a large number of pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Novartis, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Merck AG, Daiichi-Sankyo, Amgen, Millenium, Onyx and Roche among others, and have served as Scientific advisor to a number of small and start-up companies such as Exelixis, Array Biopharma, Chiron, Nektar, Merrimack, Cagent, Cleveland BioLabs, Zeno Pharmaceuticals and Swiss Rockets. He received the first American Society of Clinical Oncology Drug Development Research Professorship 2012-2017, in recognition of his mentorship and his work in cancer drug development. He has authored 280 publications dealing primarily with preclinical pharmacology and phase I trials as well as novel therapies for lung cancer.
Richard A. Flavell, PhD, FRS, has served on our Scientific Advisory Board since 2017. Since 2002, Dr. Flavell has been the Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at Yale University School of Medicine. Prior to joining the Yale faculty in 1988, Dr. Flavell was the President and Chief Scientific Officer of Biogen Research Corporation.
Dr. Flavell received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Hull, England, and performed postdoctoral work in Amsterdam and Zurich. He is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a fellow of the Royal Society, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a member ofthe Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. He has published over 800 papers and has received many awards, including the Invitrogen Meritorious Career Award from the American Association of Immunologists.
Neal Rosen, MD, PhD, has served on our scientific advisory board since 2016. Dr. Rosen is a Member of the Department of Medicine and a Member of the Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he serves as Head of Developmental Therapeutics. He is also a Professor of Pharmacology, Cell Biology and Medicine at Cornell University Medical School. He has played an important role in the development of tyrosine kinase-mediated signaling inhibitors and has pioneered the concept that cancer cells are dependent on cellular machinery for protein folding.
Dr. Rosen received a medical degree and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and post-doctoral training and a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute, where he served on the senior staff prior to joining the faculty of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He was the recipient of the NIH/NCI Outstanding Investigator Award in 2016.
Timothy Yap, M.D., Ph.D., has served on our Scientific Advisory Board since 2019. Dr. Yap is an Associate Professor in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics and Medical Director of The Institute for Applied Cancer Science at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. Previously, he was a Consultant Medical Oncologist and NIHR BRC Clinician Scientist jointly in the Phase I Drug Development Unit, Lung Cancer Unit and Cancer Biomarkers Laboratory at the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR).
Dr. Yap earned his medical degree from Imperial College London and completed his general medical training in Oxford. Dr. Yap undertook a Clinical Fellowship in the Phase I Drug Development Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital and completed his Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology in the Division of Cancer Therapeutics in the ICR.