2016 Speakers

Paul Bolno

President & CEO, WAVE Life Sciences

Dr. Bolno brings WAVE Life Sciences over 15 years of scientific and strategic leadership. Prior to joining as President and Chief Executive Officer, he was Vice President, Worldwide Business Development – Head of Asia BD and Investments, as well as Head of Global Neuroscience BD, at GlaxoSmithKline. He also served as a Director of Glaxo Welcome Manufacturing, Pte Ltd. in Singapore. Dr. Bolno joined GSK as Vice President, Business Development for the Oncology Business Unit, where he helped establish GSK’s global oncology business and served as a member of the Oncology Executive Team, Oncology Commercial Board and Cancer Research Executive Team.

Prior to GSK, he served as Director of Research at Two River LLC, a health care private equity firm. Dr. Bolno earned a medical degree from MCP-Hahnemann School of Medicine and an M.B.A. from Drexel University. He was a general surgery resident and cardiothoracic surgery postdoctoral research fellow at Drexel University College of Medicine.

William P. Cacheris

President, Tessellon

William P. Cacheris has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries of which over 20 years has been focused on consulting and business analytics. As the founder and president of Tessellon, Bill has extensive knowledge of epidemiology and forecasting across many therapeutic areas. Using this vast knowledge and experience, Bill uses his forecasting and modeling skills to develop robust and meaningful market assessments that are essential in business planning for pharmaceutical companies ranging from epidemiology, patient segmentation, disease treatment patterns, market analysis and trends, future market dynamics, and forecasted products sales.

Bill’s academic qualifications include a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Florida State University and his M.B.A. from University of Missouri, St. Louis. His knowledge of science and business led him to support the development of pharmaceutical products globally.  Bill not only gained valuable skills in forecasting and epidemiology, but also extensive global business experience extending to Europe, China, and Japan.

Larry Cai

Head of Business Development, New England, Qilu Pharmaceuticals

Mr. Cai is Head of Business Development, New England at Qilu Pharmaceuticals, which is located in Jinan, China. Qilu is one of the top 10 Chinese pharmaceutical companies in term of revenue, and leader in R&D expenditure and pipeline. Mr. Cai is responsible for inbound licensing and partnership collaborations within local biotech and pharmaceutical communities, as well as venture creation and acquisition. With nearly 20 years in life science industry, and the last decade in business development, he has helped numerous companies both in US and China, in their R&D endeavors as well as on the BD front. Mr. Cai is the president-elect of SAPA-NE (Sino-American Pharmaceutical Professionals Association – New England), a non-profit organization striving to bridge the Pacific Ocean in life science.

Sean Cao

Vice President, Global Business Development/Simcere Pharmaceuticals

Dr. Sean Cao is the VP of Global Business Development at Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, responsible for the global BD strategy for Simcere, including licensing, acquisition, partnering and investment activities. Dr. Cao is also the President and Board Director at Simcere of America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Simcere. Prior to that, Dr. Cao was the Senior Director of Alternative Partnership, Evaluation & Expertise at Sanofi, where he led the externalization effort in Global R&D. In addition, Dr. Cao was also responsible for managing the evaluation of acquisition/in-licensing opportunities, directly responsible for the due diligence of multiple investment decisions worth more than $4B. Before Sanofi, Sean was an associate at New Leaf Venture Partners, a leading healthcare VC firm based in New York. Sean worked in the pharmaceutical and diagnostic industries for over eight years before joining New Leaf, first at Aventis, then at Johnson & Johnson. Sean is a member of BayHelix, a premier organization of Chinese life sciences business leaders. Sean holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Virginia, an MBA with honor from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.Sc. in Microbiology from Nankai University.

Pey Ni Chan

Managing Director, CMIC Asia-Pacific, Pte. Ltd.

Pey Ni has been working in contract research organizations for over 15 years in pharmaceutical clinical research with expertise in project management, regulatory affairs, and business start-ups. She is currently Managing Executive Director at CMIC overseeing CRO business and operations in APAC region. Work-based in Singapore, she also involves in international business development by assisting companies to plan and execute clinical development programs between USA and APAC region. She received her bachelor and master degrees in public health from the National Taiwan University.

David Deming

Managing Partner, TAG Healthcare Advisors, LLC

David Deming has over thirty years in investment banking.  He has focused on the healthcare industry for over 15 years, including 12 years as the leader of JP Morgan’s Healthcare Investment Banking Group.  His experience includes mergers & acquisitions advice, strategic partnerships, capital raising and general financial advice for pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device companies and service companies.  Today he focuses on emerging biotech and pharmaceutical companies – providing access to capital and commercial relationships in China, Asia and the US.

Mr. Deming founded TAG Healthcare Advisors in 2013.  Prior to this role, he was the CEO of a start-up pension management business, SmartNest LLC, which was successfully sold in 2010.  He previous spent over 27 years at JP Morgan Chase and JP Morgan where he conducted M&A across industries before joining the healthcare investment banking effort.  Mr. Deming served as head of the global healthcare investment banking team for 12 years.  Mr. Deming graduated from Hobart College with a BA in Economics with highest honors.

Sara Jane Demy

Founder & CEO, Demy-Colton

Since 1998 Sara has launched, developed and shaped some of the most important investor and business development conferences and tools designed to help companies raise capital and form strategic partnerships that are key to the drug development process.

In 2008 she founded Demy-Colton, a company dedicated to facilitating the growth of the life sciences industry. She is committed to helping biopharmaceutical companies bring innovative new therapies to patients in need as quickly as possible.

Demy-Colton produces high level investor and business development conferences and events for the biopharmaceutical and life sciences industries. With a proven track record and deep domain knowledge, it develops programs that add value and exceed the expectations of participants. For a full listing of conference and events, go to www.demy-colton.com.

Yuan-Hua Ding

Executive Director and Head of Pfizer External R&D Innovation (ERDI) – Asia/Pacific, Pfizer Worldwide Research & Development

Dr. Yuan-Hua Ding is an Executive Director and Head of Pfizer External R&D Innovation (ERDI) – Asia/Pacific, Pfizer Worldwide Research & Development (WRD). He is also a member of the ERDI leadership team. In this capacity, he partners with colleagues in ERDI, Pfizer Business Development Group and Pfizer Asia Country Offices to evaluate technologies and assets from Asia Pacific academic, biotech & pharma laboratories, seek opportunities to incubate early biotech companies, build and manage a research network of academic institutes, biotech & pharma companies, and venture capital groups as well as regional bioparks. He liaises with therapeutic area and technology research unit leaderships in accessing the sciences, technologies and products needed to support Pfizer R&D mission.

Dr. Ding received a bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering from Peking University in 1987 and a master’s degree in Biophysics from Tsinghua University in 1990. In 1996, after completed his doctoral studies in Biochemistry with Prof. John Rosenberg and Roger Hendrix at the University of Pittsburgh, he moved to Harvard University to be a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Don Wiley. Dr. Ding’s postdoctoral work focused on structural and biophysical aspects of molecular interactions among T-cell receptor (TCR), major histocompatibility complex (TCR) and peptide antigens. While in Dr. Wiley’s Lab, Dr Ding also collaborated with Dr. Judah Folkman of Boston Children’s Hospital on structural studies of endostatin, a protein shown to be a potent angiogenesis inhibitor in mouse model.

RuiPing Dong

Managing Director, RuiPing Consulting

Current work as founder and CEO for RMX

Dec 2010 to Nov 2013: As a senior vice president & Head of Emerging Markets R&D, Merck & Co., Dr Dong served as a member of Research Laboratory leadership team (RLT), the Emerging Markets Leadership Team (EMLT) and on the board of directors for Merck-Sun Pharm joint venture and BeiGene, a biotech oncology company. Dr Dong leaded new approaches for the clinical development and registration of late-stage programs so that they met the local needs in Emerging Markets (over 100 countries). He defined the activities that support global commercialization of branded generics, follow-on biologics, vaccines, extensions of Merck’s mature brands and innovative products. In addition, Dr Dong was responsible for developing partnerships and capabilities to augment Merck discovery and development efforts in the emerging markets, benefit our global pipeline, boost overall productivity and differentiate us from the competition.

Dr Dong earned his M.D. from Jiangxi Medical School in China, and his Ph.D. from Kyushu University Medical School in Japan. Before he joined the pharmaceutical industry, he worked as a Research Fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School.

Carl Firth

Founder and CEO, ASLAN Pharmaceuticals

Dr Carl Firth is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ASLAN Pharmaceuticals. Previously, he was Head of Asia Healthcare at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, supporting public and private financing of healthcare companies across the region and advising on M&A transactions.

Prior to joining the banking industry, Carl worked for AstraZeneca for 10 years in various commercial and R&D roles, including Regional Business Development Director AsiaPac and Director of New Product Development China.

Recently, Carl was chosen as one of SCRIP’s top 10 pharmaceutical leaders alongside notable industry veterans such as Ken Frazier, CEO of Merck, and Andrew Witty, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline.

Carl holds a PhD from Cambridge University in Molecular Biology (Trinity College), an Executive MBA from London Business School and a degree in Molecular Biology from Cambridge University. Carl is an Independent Director of Hong Kong listed Uni-Bio Sciences and Singapore’s Exploit Technologies, and is also Adjunct Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School.

James Foley

Managing Director, Aqua Partners, LLC

Jim’s career in the pharmaceutical industry began in 1977 at the Squibb Institute of Medical Research (E. R. Squibb and Sons). In 1989, he joined the Department of Licensing and Business Analysis at Squibb and relocated to Tokyo to further establish the company’s worldwide pharmaceutical licensing activities in Japan and relationships with Japanese R&D-­‐based pharmaceutical companies. Jim joined SmithKline Beecham’s Worldwide Business Development Team in 1991 as Vice President and Director, Business Development-­‐ Japan/Asia, and remained based in Tokyo, representing the company’s worldwide licensing interests in Japan, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand. He returned to the United States in 1995, where he continued his responsibilities based in Philadelphia. In 2002, Jim re-joined Bristol Myers Squibb as Vice President, Business Development – Japan/International, focused on the identification of strategic R&D collaboration and product licensing opportunities from the Japan, Asia and Australia/New Zealand region. From April 2006 to February 2008, Jim was President and CEO of SMART Biosciences, an early-­‐stage discovery biotechnology company specializing in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. Jim joined Aqua Partners, a corporate and business development advisory firm focused on strategy development, licensing, M&A and finance for biotechnology and mid-tier pharma companies worldwide, with a special expertise in cross-­‐border relationships and deal making.

Jim holds a Ph.D. in Physiology from Thomas Jefferson University College of Graduate Studies. He received a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Rutgers University. He was a NIH Post-­‐Doctoral Fellow from 1975 to 1977 in the Department of Pharmacology, Tulane University School of Medicine.

Chris Francis

Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Portfolio Management, WAVE Life Sciences

Dr. Francis has over 10 years of experience in pharmaceutical and business development. Prior to joining WAVE, Dr. Francis held senior operational, strategic and business development roles within GlaxoSmithKline Oncology and was a member of the team that established GSK’s Rare Disease Unit. Before GSK, Dr. Francis was a health care private equity associate at Two River LLC. He began his career in pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement consulting at IMS Health. Dr. Francis earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Melbourne and was a doctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge.

Julia Gregory

Former CEO, ContraFect Corporation

Julia P. Gregory, recently CEO of ContraFect Corporation, has more than 16 years of biotechnology executive management experience and 20 years of investment banking experience. She has successfully raised more than $1.5 billion for biotechnology companies and structured creative strategic alliances and transactions for them with pharmaceutical companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd., Genentech, Inc. (now Roche) and Human Genome Sciences (now GSK). As CEO of ContraFect, an important biotechnology company focused on biologics as an alternative to antibiotics, she was instrumental in taking the company public, led the effort to move their lead program for Staph aureus bloodstream infections into clinical development as well as establish a strong financial base for ContraFect’s ongoing research and development programs. Prior to ContraFect, she was CEO of Five Prime Therapeutics.

Prior to her corporate experience, Ms.Gregory was an investment banker for over 20 years primarily as Head of Healthcare and Investment Banking at Punk, Ziegel & Company and at Dillon, Read & Co, Inc. She received her B.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and her M.B.A. from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.

Kimberly Ha

Senior Director, FTI Consulting

Kimberly Ha is a Senior Director in the FTI Consulting Strategic Communications segment based in New York. She is an award-winning journalist and has over a decade of experience in healthcare and financial journalism.

Kimberly was previously Global Editor at BioPharm Insight, an independent business intelligence product launched by the Mergermarket Group. She started her career as a financial journalist in Hong Kong specializing in life sciences M&A at Mergermarket and was the lead sector specialist before transferring to New York to launch the business intelligence division for BioPharm Insight in 2007.

She is a Board Member for the Prix Galien Foundation and an advisor to the OneMedPlace Forums in San Francisco and New York. She is also an expert advisor for Startup Health and was selected as an editorial board member for the World Korean Medical Journal. Ms. Ha received a B.A. in psychology from New York University.

Matthew Heimerdinger

Research Director, Anterio, Inc.

After graduating with a BA in East-Asian Studies from the College of William and Mary in 1996, Matt traveled to Japan to gain a first-hand experience with the country and culture. After a brief stint in consumer market research, Matt joined Tokyo-based Anterio Inc., and now has more than 16 years of experience as a specialist in primary marketing research for the pharmaceutical industry, with experience in a broad range of therapeutic categories from diabetes to hematological malignancies. In addition to his expertise in Japan, Matt also regularly designs and implements global primary research projects in the US, EU, and South-East Asian markets.

Charles Hsu

Managing Partner, Crosswave Management

Charles has been involved in over 40 life sciences and healthcare companies, as a co- founder, investor, Board member and/or Advisor. He has been active in China since 1996, and has been involved in founding, advising and/or investing in some of the earliest venture-backed successes there.

Charles is Managing Partner of Crosswave, a China-focused venture management and advisory firm. He also serves on the Board of the Jacobs University Foundation, is an advisor to the Chinese American Biopharmaceutical Society (CABS) and ChinaBio LLC, and is a member of BayHelix, a private, invitation-only society of life science executives with Chinese roots. He holds an AB (Magna Cum Laude) in Biochemistry from Harvard and his PhD (Genetics) and MBA degrees from Stanford. He is also into skiing, wine- tasting, writing and travelling.

Judy Jarecki-Black

Head, IP, Merial

Dr. Judy Jarecki-Black is Global Head of the Intellectual Property Department at Merial, Inc., the Animal Health subsidiary of Sanofi-Aventis. Dr. Jarecki-Black is admitted to the state bars of Georgia and South Carolina, and is admitted to practice before several federal courts including the United States Supreme Court. Since 2002, Dr. Black’s department maintains and enforces Merial’s global patent portfolio. Her department obtains patent protection, generates patentability and freedom-to-operate opinions, and conducts due diligence for a variety of licensing opportunities. Dr. Jarecki-Black is also responsible for global patent litigation and leads the trial team on all patent cases.

Derrick Li

Director, Investing and Licensing, North America, TPP Healthcare

Mr. Li is a Director at TPP Healthcare focusing on cross-border business development and consulting engagements, helping North American and European firms access China. Mr. Li has been involved in healthcare invest for over 11 years and involved in all aspects of TPP Healthcare’s advisory practice. Prior to TPP Healthcare, Mr. Li served as an Equity Analyst at The Royce Funds, a small and micro-cap focused investment manager owned by Legg Mason. Mr. Li received his Bachelor of Business Administration with dual degrees in both Accountancy and Finance from Villanova University.

Keiko Oishi

Senior Managing Director, CMIC Holdings Co., LTD.

After gaining her MS degree from the University of Tokyo, Keiko started her career in Nikkei McGraw-Hill, Inc. in Japan (current Nikkei Business Publications), as staff writer for Nikkei Biotech.. She accumulated her biotechnology industry career through working in Genzyme Japan, Ltd., and Genentech, Japan.

In 1996, Keiko joined CMIC Co., Ltd., the first CRO (Clinical Research Organization) in Japan, as Manager of the Strategy Development Department. In her current position as Senior Managing Director of CMIC HOLDINGS, Co., Ltd., she is responsible for International Business and Corporate Development, covering Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, Taiwan and other countries in Asia Pacific, as well as for International Business Development which function could bring in foreign pharma and biotech companies that are interested in drug development in Japan and Asia, to start their regulatory and clinical activities in the region. She also acts as Board Member of CMIC HOLDINGS and Asia affiliates.

Tim Opler

Partner, Torreya Partners

Tim is the founding principal of Torreya Partners LLC, a leading boutique advisory firm that provides strategic advice and assistance with Mergers & Acquisitions, Partnering and Financings to life science companies worldwide. Tim has a long history of leading strategic and financing transactions in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has carried out over 100 financing and M&A transactions with a notional amount over $50 billion. Most recently, Tim was Vice President, Strategy at FibroGen where he raised $117 million in a private placement of equity for FibroGen and helped to negotiate a historic licensing transaction for the company’s Phase II anemia product. Previously, Tim was a Managing Director in the health care investment banking group at Credit Suisse First Boston. Tim was also a professor of finance at Ohio State University. He is the author of more than a dozen scholarly articles in corporate finance. Tim received a Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA and B.A. from Florida State University.

Grace Pan

Partner, Holland & Knight

Grace L. Pan is an intellectual property partner and litigator at Holland & Knight’s NY office who has been practicing in the US (as a licensed US Attorney in NY, NJ, DC and USPTO) since 1992.  She also practices in Japan (admitted as a Gaikokuho Jimu Bengoshi) and Taiwan (admitted as a registered foreign lawyer) and is fluent in English, Japanese, Taiwanese and Mandarin. She represents clients from the U.S., Japan, Taiwan and China and is experienced in enforcing and defending patents, trademarks and trade dress before the International Trade Commission (ITC), U.S. District Courts and the CAFC in biotechnology, medical, organic, inorganic chemistry, pharmaceutical, microbiology, recombinant technology, electronic, semiconductor, DVD, Blu-Ray® technology, mechanical and related technical fields.

Ms. Pan is an experienced ANDA and IP technology litigator.  Her litigation experiences principally are in the pharmaceutical, semiconductor, chemistry, biotechnology, electronic and mechanical fields.

Chambers Global – The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business guide

• USA: Intellectual Property (Foreign Expert for Japan and Taiwan), 2014-2016
• Japan: Intellectual Property (Experts Based Abroad), 2013, 2014
• USA: Intellectual Property (Foreign Expert), 2013, 2014

Wendy Pan

Partner, Sidley Austin LLP

Wenseng “Wendy” Pan is a partner of Sidley Austin. Her practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, technology based transactions and strategic partnerships, especially in the life sciences industry and in cross-border settings.

Wendy advises life sciences companies and technology companies in structuring and negotiating complex IP-heavy transactions, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, software and know-how licensing. As a former scientist and a registered U.S. patent lawyer, Wendy’s knowledge and skills in handling intellectual property-related issues enables her to provide value-added services when advising clients on M&As, PE/VC investments, strategic partnership and joint venture transactions.

She is an active figure in the US/China life sciences community and has been recognized as a “deal broker” by BioWorld Today. Wendy is also mentioned in Who’s Who Legal Life Sciences 2016: Transactional Section.

Wendy is board member of BayHelix, an organization of leaders of Chinese heritage in the global life sciences and healthcare community.

Jurij Petrin

President & CEO, Pharmaceutical Regulatory Services, Inc.

Over 25 years of global drug development experience, first at Bristol Myers-Squibb (Medical Director for Eastern Europe, Executive Director for International Regulatory Affairs, Vice President for Intercontinental Regulatory Science), followed by extensive global development experience through two companies he had founded, Pharmaceutical Regulatory Services, Inc. and PRS Clinical, Ltd. Established a network of regulatory and clinical consultants and CROs in over 90 countries. Worked at PhRMA on regulatory policy issues for Asia Pacific, especially with regulatory agencies of China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, ASEAN. Lectured global regulatory courses at Temple School of Pharmacy, DIA, RAPS, Eudipharm. Consulting agreements with many pharmaceutical companies and Master Service Agreements with major CROs. Regular contacts with many regulatory agencies, including the FDA and EMA.

Bill Pignato

Founder & Principal, W.J. Pignato & Associates

Bill Pignato is the Founder and Principal of W.J. Pignato & Associates, LLC a Boston based consulting firm specializing in global regulatory affairs strategy focused on in vitro diagnostics, medical devices, companion diagnostics, targeted therapies, drug/diagnostics co-development and the regulatory deployment of new technologies. In late 2014 Bill retired from Novartis as the Global Head (Vice President) of Regulatory Affairs, Companion Diagnostics where he led the companion diagnostic regulatory program at Novartis, which was focused on employing a variety of innovative molecular technologies to help personalize diagnosis and treatment of patients for Novartis’ novel therapeutics in oncology and general medicine. Previously, he worked at Genentech, Inc leading the regulatory effort specific to the company’s companion diagnostic initiative. Bill brings 30 years of strategic global regulatory diagnostic experience in support of bringing products to market, including working on about 50 drug/diagnostic co-development programs. Bill has been active in numerous FDA/Industry cooperative activities regarding regulatory policy impacting diagnostic devices. He has spoken widely on a number of regulatory issues and challenges associated with commercialization of in vitro diagnostic technologies including personalized medicine and companion diagnostics.

Linda Pullan

Founder, Pullan Consulting

For 10 years at Pullan Consulting, Linda Pullan has been helping in identification, evaluation, valuation, negotiation and strategy for partnering, in or out. She has an extensive deal sheet from company acquisitions to Phase III to preclinical candidates to technologies.

After a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Linda has over 20 years of industry experience, starting in drug discovery at Monsanto/Searle/Pfizer and ICI/Zeneca/AstraZeneca. She led teams that put Seroquel, a multi-billion-dollar antipsychotic, and other molecules into development. Business development began with in-licensing technology and early drug candidates at AstraZeneca, and continued as head of oncology hematology licensing for Amgen. She then joined Kosan Biosciences as VP of Business Development, focusing on out-licensing. She also served as CEO of Viriome and on boards for Paloma and IRAD.

She writes a free monthly newsletter Pullan’s Pieces (sign up on www.PullanConsulting.com ), for thousands of readers. Linda has webinars and whitepapers on partnering http://www.sharevault.com/resources/white-papers/.

Alan Seem

Partner, Shearman & Sterling LLP

Alan Seem is a corporate partner in the Menlo Park office of Shearman & Sterling LLP and co-head of the firm’s Healthcare Industry Group. His primary areas of focus are SEC-registered and Rule 144A/Regulation S securities offerings, M&A, venture capital and private equity investments and going-private transactions. Alan also regularly advises companies and their boards of directors regarding corporate governance matters, including SEC/stock exchange compliance and disclosure-related matters. Alan was the former head of Shearman & Sterling’s Asia Capital Markets Group and the Beijing Office Managing Partner, having worked 16 years in the Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai offices, and remains active in the firm’s China practice. He speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese fluently and is a member of the bar in New York and California.

Mark Tang

Managing Director, Good Health Capital

Dr. Mark Tang is a managing director of PE firm Good Health Capital in New York City, and Chairman of a US specialty pharmaceutical company focusing in-licensing and developing drug for Chinese market. Dr. Tang has two decades of experience in the field of bio-technology and high-tech investment. A serial entrepreneur, I-banker and investor, he is also one of the pioneer of mainland Chinese working on Wall Street to explore the biotech and Asian biotechnology industry. He was a co-founder a digital management company and a medical device company with successful exits.

Dr. Tang is the author of a biotech investment book and two articles in Nature Biotech. From 2004-2006, Dr. Tang was also a faculty and biotech director at Rutgers Business School, where he taught biotech finance, venture capital and business development courses. Before that, Dr. Tang had worked at investment banks including Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and • Paine Webber (UBS) Street in different capacities including equity research, investment banking, and asset management. Mark was a post-doctoral fellow and research associate at Rockefeller University. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry and an MBA in Finance. Dr. Tang has served several independent board director positions since 2008.

Jeff Tomlinson

CBO, ASLAN Pharmaceuticals

Jeff Tomlinson is Chief Business Officer and Founder of ASLAN Pharmaceuticals. He has been in a variety of business development roles in North American biotechnology and IT companies for more than 15 years. These include involvement in early stage biotechnology and IT companies, participating on the Board of Directors of both public and private companies.

He held multiple senior business development roles including Chief Business Officer at Active Pass Pharmaceuticals and Director of Business Development for GeneLogic. Before this Jeff was at GlaxoSmithKline (UK and US) managing projects spawned from the SKB/HGS collaboration.

Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Western Ontario.

Brianne Weingarten

Head of Alliance Management, Licensing & Business Development, Purdue Pharma

Brianne Weingarten is the Head of Licensing and Business Development, Alliance Management at Purdue Pharma.  Brianne and her team are responsible for managing all alliance partners in support of global drug development and business growth.  A pharmaceutical executive with almost 30 years of experience at Purdue, Brianne is currently responsible for business development evaluations for new products resulting in external collaborations, partnerships and licensing.

Brianne has managed complex Rx drug development programs and teams to obtain New Drug Approvals and market launch of several opioid and non-opioid analgesics, antibiotics and insomnia products, in both adults and pediatric populations.  She has held numerous roles during her tenure including pharmacokinetics, project management, alliance management, research operations as well as developing a commercial strategy to address the needs of Health Systems. In 2015, Brianne also held a leadership position with SavantIP, a start-up intellectual property strategic licensing company and spin off business unit from Purdue.

Brianne currently serves on the Board of New York Pharma Forum. Brianne earned an MS degree in Pharmacology from New York Medical College and is the author of many scientific publications.

Jim Weissman

CBO, Dicerna Pharmaceuticals

Jim Weissman joined Dicerna as chief business officer in January 2012. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the life sciences industry, with extensive international management experience in biotech and pharmaceutical general management, product development, licensing, business development, marketing and M&A activities.

Prior to Dicerna, Jim was vice president of business development at MannKind Corporation, responsible for leading the company’s activities related to licensing, new products and strategic planning. Prior to MannKind, Jim held leadership positions in both business development and marketing at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in Tokyo, Japan. He led Pfizer Japan’s new product planning and business development activities and after the acquisition of Pharmacia, he was responsible for the sales, profit and strategic targets for the company’s specialty products, including central nervous system (CNS), endocrinology, ophthalmology and oncology therapeutics and diversified portfolios. Jim lived and worked in Japan for more than 10 years (1993-1996 and 1998-2006). 

Jim holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Bates College.

Nat Whitney

President, Whitney Research

Nat Whitney, owner and President of Whitney Research, has over 50 years of experience in all facets of the IVD industry. His long history in China dates back to 1983, when he was the Asia Technology Marketing Manager for Corning Glass Works, Medical Division transferring technology for Clinical Analyzers to China. He held numerous management positions in R&D, manufacturing, and international marketing at Ciba Corning Diagnostics/Chiron/Bayer/ (now Siemens). He also has owned a China distribution (medical imaging) and consulting businesses with offices in Beijing and Boston. He partners with Chang Hong Whitney, his wife, who is a specialist in China medical regulatory affairs.

Whitney Research is exclusively focused on the China IVD market, providing general and customized market research for manufacturers, major research firms, investment groups and NGOs.

Gunther Winkler

CEO, Biometheus LLC

Dr. Winkler is a seasoned biotech executive and entrepreneur. He started his industry career in 1988 at Biogen where he held senior positions in R&D and in Corporate Administration including Senior VP, Asia Pacific, VP of Strategic Initiatives and Head of Global Clinical Operations. Dr. Winkler left Biogen in 2011 and pursued his own entrepreneurial ventures. His current position is CEO of Biometheus, which specializes in precision medicine. Biometheus’ lead technology is a genetic test to predict placebo responders in clinical trials.

Fang Xie

Of Counsel, Greenberg Traurig

Fang Xie, Ph.D. is Of Counsel at international law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP where she co‐leads the firm’s Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Group. Recently listed in IAM Strategy 300 – The World’s Leading IP Strategists, Fang focuses her practice on life sciences & technology‐driven transactions involving the establishing, licensing, sharing, development and monetization of various intellectual property rights.  She has broad experience in worldwide patent and trademark portfolio development, intellectual property due diligence, licensing and technology transfer, patentability and product clearance studies, patent infringement and validity analyses, freedom to operate evaluations, as well as intellectual property litigation and pre-litigation counseling.

Jimmy Zhang

Managing Director, Cross-Border Investment, CL Investment Group

Dr. Jimmy Zhang is the managing director, cross-border investment at CL Investment Group, making investments in biotech, medtech, and life sciences-related VR/AR and AI, and helping portfolio companies to expand in China by functioning as interim CEO or helping build their own management teams.

Jimmy was Vice President, Transactions at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, and Managing Director, MSD Early Investments – Greater China at Merck & Co. He was also a Board Director of BeiGene and an Advisor Board member of Cenova Ventures.

Jimmy was Senior Vice President at Synergenics, LLC, a venture firm founded and led by Dr. Bill Rutter, one of the founding fathers and pioneers of the biotech industry. Jimmy was previously a consultant at McKinsey, a registered patent agent at Morrison & Foerster, and a project manager at Novartis (Chiron).

Jimmy received his B.S. from Nanjing University, Ph.D. from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where he worked closely with three Nobel Laureates, and MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. Jimmy is a founding member and former Chairman of BayHelix Group, a prestigious non-profit organization of Chinese life sciences business leaders.

Wei Zhang

Investor, Lilly Asia Ventures

Wei Zhang, PhD, MBA, is an entrepreneur-in-residence at Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV), a leading biomedical venture capital firm headquartered in China with $700M and 30+ portfolio companies under management.

Wei has over 18 years of experience in biotech. As a venture capitalist at an NYSE listed investment firm, Wei was a key member of the healthcare team that was responsible for multiple exits that were valued more than $2B. Wei also held positions including President and CEO of an early stage biotech, head of corporate development at a commercial stage genetic testing company, and a scientist having worked on 20 products with several on the market. Wei is an inventor of over a dozen issued and pending patents and an author of 17 peer reviewed publications.

Wei received his BS from Nanjing University, PhD from Boston University, and an MBA from Wharton. He is also a Kauffman Fellow, a global organization with 400 investors and innovators.

Xiaoming Zou

CEO, EOC Pharma

Dr. Zou currently acts as Chief Executive Officer, EOC Pharma, a venture backed, oncology focused Chinese biotech. He is responsible for the Company’s overall strategy and operation. From March 2012 to December 2015, he was the Chief Business Officer of Eddingpharm, a China based specialty pharma. He led multiple cross board transactions for Eddingpharm, including commercial JV with Chiesi and Vascepa licensing from Amarin. From June 2010 to March 2012, he served as Executive Director, External Research and Development, Amgen Inc. and led partnering activities in inflammation and neuroscience therapeutic areas from R&D side. From May 2009 to June 2010, he served as Director, External Drug Discovery in Immuno-Inflammation CEDD of GSK. Prior to May 2009, he was Director, Senior Manager in Amgen’s Licensing/External R&D Affair Department and worked on in-licensing and out-licensing projects in inflammation, cardiovascular, and neuroscience therapeutic areas. From June 2001 to May 2005, he served as Senior Scientist, Scientist in Amgen’s Inflammation Research Department and led several early stage discovery projects. Xiaoming has a B.S. in biology and a M.S. in biochemistry from Tsinghua University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from Columbia University.