Board of Directors: 2010-2011
Darren Ji, Ph.D., MBA, PharmaLegacy Laboratories
Kewen Jin, Ph.D., MBA, Charles River Laboratories
Alan Paau, Ph.D., MBA, Cornell University
Jimmy Zhang,Ph.D., MBA, Synergenics, LLC
Tony Zhang(Chairman),Ph.D., Eli Lilly
Board of Directors Biographical Information
Chairman of the Board
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Zhang, Tony (Yantao), Ph.D.
Managing Director and Site Head
Eli Lilly Global R&D, China
Shanghai, China |
Dr. Tony Zhang received his BS degree in chemistry from Shandong University, and went to the US for graduate studies as a CGP Fellow. He obtained his PhD from Purdue University, followed by a stint as a research chemist at Reilly (Vertellus) Chemicals.
He joined Eli Lilly in 1992, and had led multi-disciplined teams engaged in drug development. He is recognized as a premier molecule builder, and has patented, published, and lectured extensively in synthetic chemistry and pharmaceutical process development. He is an advisory board member for an international journal and several nonprofit organizations, and has received a number of awards, including the highest distinction within Lilly, the Chairman Ovation Award, for his contribution to R&D productivity.
Tony has been a key initiator and implementer of the company∏s R&D network in China. In June 2008, he assumed the current leadership role as managing director and site head for Eli Lilly Global R&D, China, with responsibilities including development of R&D strategies, establishment and management of research collaborations, and licensing activities for molecular assets and research technologies in the Greater China area.
Director of the Board
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Ji, Darren, Ph.D., MBA
CEO
PharmaLegacy Laboratories
Shanghai, China |
Dr. Darren Ji is the CEO and co-founder of PharmaLegacy Laboratories, a Shanghai-Zhangjiang based CRO Company focusing on providing preclinical specialty pharmacology services.
Prior to his CRO venture, Darren was a Director of Bioscience Business Development at the Procter & Gamble Company. Darren had the overall responsibility of identifying and bringing deals in bioscience-related technologies from Greater China, Japan and Korea for P&G’s consumer product and pharmaceutical applications for the global market. Over the years, Darren engineered a number of significant deals between P&G and bioscience entities in the East Asia region with a total value over a billion US dollars. Two of the deals were singled out by Yahoo Finance as two outstanding activities P&G engaged in external alliances in 2007. Darren maintains an extensive business network in the bioscience community around the world, in particular in the US and Asia.
Dr. Ji’s prior career included more than seven year’s R&D management experiences at P&G Pharmaceuticals. In conjunction to his drug discovery responsibilities, Darren established and managed multiple pharmaceutical R&D partnerships in the US, Europe and Asia to drive new drug research and development efforts.
Dr. Ji has been a frequent invited speaker and panelist in major biotech/pharmaceutical meetings on topics of international business development, and cross-fertilization of biotechnologies for applications in pharma and non-pharma businesses. Dr. Ji obtained his MD in Clinical Medicine, China Medical University, Shenyang, China (1986); PhD in Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, UK (1995); and MBA in Entrepreneurship and Economics, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, USA (2005).
Dr. Ji’s past and current honors included President and Board Director of International Chinese Hard Tissue Society (USA), Guest Professorship of Nankai University and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Best Athlete Award of China Medical University. Darren was recently elected to the Board of Director of the BayHelix Group for the term of 2008-2009.
Director of the Board
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Jin, Kewen, Ph.D., MBA
General Manager
Charles River Laboratories
Shanghai, China |
Dr. Kewen Jin is General Manager of Charles River Laboratories (CRL) China preclinical service company. Kewen has played an active role in the fast growing Shanghai biomedical industry. He co-founded three companies in R&D outsourcing and drug discovery, served as CEO for two of them and CBO for one. He has advised several MNC pharma companies in their China R&D initiatives. He is a Senior Advisor to Pudong government in developing and implementing the plan to make Shanghai an emerging life science cluster. He was granted the 2005 Magnolia Award by the Shanghai government for his contribution. Previously, Kewen was a marketing and operation executive with Wyeth in the U.S. and China. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Bayhelix and Sino-American Pharmaceutical Professional Association (SAPA). Kewen was trained in medicine (Shanghai Jiaotong), biology (Ph.D., Rockefeller), and finance (MBA, Columbia).
Director of the Board
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Paau, Alan, Ph.D., MBA
Vice Provost
Cornell University
New York, USA |
Dr. Alan Paau is currently vice provost for technology transfer and economic development at Cornell University. He is responsible for the strategic management of all inventions and relation property rights that arise from the research activities at Cornell University - both at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City and at the general campus in Ithaca. Dr. Paau is also Executive Director of the Cornell Center for Technology Enterprise and Commercialization and President of the Cornell Research Foundation, Inc., an affiliate corporation that holds titles to technologies resulting from Cornell research activities.
Prior to joining Cornell in January 2007, Dr. Paau for nine years was Director and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Technology Transfer & Intellectual Property Services at the University of California, San Diego (San Diego, CA). From 1994 to 1998, he was Executive Director of the Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc. and Director of Intellectual Property & Technology Transfer at Iowa State University (Ames, IA). Until 1994, he was Associate Director of the Biotechnology Center at the Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) with responsibilities in research, teaching, research administration, technology management, and industry liaison. Dr. Paau held faculty appointments while at Iowa State University in the departments of Preventive Medicine, Immunology & Microbiology, and Genetics & Zoology, and at the Ohio State University in the departments of Microbiology, and Plant Pathology.
Before returning to the academic environment in 1992, Dr. Paau held various research and management positions of increasing responsibilities in the Cetus Corporation and the W.R. Grace & Co. organizations for 12 years (1980 to 1992) and led the development of two commercial products.
Dr. Paau holds a Ph.D. degree in Biological Sciences and a Master of Business Administration degree. He also attended the Drake University School of Law. Dr. Paau is the inventor to 8 US patents and has contributed thirty peer-reviewed research articles to scientific journals and six invited reviews and chapters to technical books.
Dr. Paau speaks often at professional seminars and conferences and currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Vitis Biosciences, Inc., Vivo Development, Inc., API Development, Inc., Horizon Stemtech Corporation, Stilbene Therapeutics Corporation, Reparo Therapy, Inc., InFlora, Inc., NanoTecNexus (non-profit), and NYC BIO (non-profit). He also serves as an advisor to the China Medical City and the Big Red Incubator.
As a director of intellectual property, a licensing executive, and a board Certified Licensing Professional(TM), he has supervised the execution of over 1,000 technology transactions and the formation of over 100 new businesses using licensed technologies. Selected recognitions of his contributions to science & technology management and community development efforts include the 2006 San Diego Bio-Pharma Award (SABPA), the 2005 Vision Award (SDCA), the listing in 2004 People to Watch (San Diego Union-Tribute), the Power List 2002 (T-Sector Magazine), and the 2002 Community Champion Award (UCSD). Previously, he also received the 1979 NATO Molecular Biology Fellowship Award (EMBO), and the 1975 Outstanding Graduate Student Presentation Award (ASPP).
Director of the Board
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Zhang, JimmyPh.D., MBA
Senior Vice President
Synergenics, LLC
San Francisco, CA, USA |
Dr. Jimmy Zhang is a Senior Vice President at Synergenics, LLC, a professional service and investment company founded and led by Dr. Bill Rutter, one of the founding fathers and pioneers of the biotech industry. Jimmy is responsible for the business development of Synergenics and its portfolio companies, and their businesses in China. In addition, Jimmy represented a U.S. public company and led the negotiation of a biotech incubator and industrial real estate investment in a top 3 China city, amounting to $100M.
Jimmy was previously a consultant at McKinsey & Company traveling and working in China, US and Germany. He worked on a wide range of issues and challenges faced by different industries (for example, pharmaceutical, chemicals, steel, investment funds, consumer, energy, government) encompassing, for example, strategic planning, global and country strategies, market entry and expansion strategies, M&A/business development, operations, organizations, marketing etc.
Before pursuing his MBA degree at MIT Sloan School of Management, Jimmy was a registered patent agent in the Palo Alto office of Morrison & Foerster. Jimmy managed intellectual property portfolios for healthcare clients, including one exceeding US$1 billion in value, drafted and negotiated patent applications with U.S. Patent Office, and participated in patent litigations. Prior to Morrison & Foerster, Jimmy served as a project manager at Chiron Corporation (now part of Novartis). Jimmy initiated its prostate cancer genomics program and tripled its value within two years.
Jimmy received his B.S. in biochemistry from Nanjing University, and Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where he worked closely with two Nobel Laureates. While studying his MBA in MIT Sloan, Jimmy was elected as the treasurer of MIT Graduate Student Council. He was also a finalist of the 12th Annual MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition (now The MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition).
Jimmy published in Cell, Nature, Neuron, and JBC, and holds multiple patents. Jimmy is a frequently invited speaker and panelist at bio-pharma conferences and hi-tech meetings on business development and doing business between US and China. He is also often quoted in both US and Chinese news media.
Executive Team: 2010-2011
Regional Leaders:
Boston metro area: Yajun Xu, Ph.D., ChemPartner
New York metro area: Ding Ding, Ph.D., MBA, Susquehanna
San Diego metro area: Wei-wei Zhang, CEO of Acrotics Corporation
San Francisco metro area: Yingfei Wei, Ph.D., 3SBio
China – Beijing metro area, Huijun Ring, Ph.D., YiGene
China – Shanghai metro area, Darren Ji, Ph.D., MBA, PharmaLegacy Laboratories
Director of Operations:
Iris Chu, M.S.
Secretary General:
Marietta Wu, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, VP of Greater China, Burrill & Co.
Treasurer:
Ching Zhu, Ph.D., MBA, Partner, Novitas Capital
Assistant Treasurer:
Huijun Ring, Ph.D., Director, DNA Direct Inc.
Membership Committee:
Steve Yang (Chair), Ph.D., AstraZeneca
Guoliang Yu, Ph.D., Epitomics
Dan Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., Fountain Medical Development