2006 SABPA Pacific Forum Speaker Biography
Kevin Chen, Ph.D.
Vice President of BioDuro LLC
Zhu Shen, Ph.D., MBA
Senior Director, Business Development, Immusol Inc.
Board of Directors and Chair of Pacific Alliances and Entrepreneurship,
SABPA San Diego; Conference Chair
Dr. Zhu Shen is the Senior Director of Business Development at Immusol, a
private, biopharmaceutical company in San Diego developing novel
therapeutics in oncology, HCV, and ophthalmology. Her key responsibilities
include leading all of Immusol’s licensing and corporate partnering activities,
marketing, and corporate communication. Previously, Dr. Shen founded
BioForesight, Inc., a life science strategic consulting company focusing on
licensing, partnering, and financing for its clients in the US and
Asia/China. She also held positions at The Wilkerson Group/ IBM, Bayer,
and Chiron, with increasing responsibilities in marketing, strategic planning
and business development.
Dr. Shen is an organizer, speaker, and chair of numerous life science business
conferences on licensing, venture capital investing, and Asia Pacific
partnering. She is the author of numerous articles published on
Pharmaceutical Executive, Ernst & Young Global Pharmaceutical and
Biotechnology Reports, and BioExecutive International. She has been
interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Reporter, Drug Discovery
News, Genetic Engineering News, San Diego Business Journal, and ASIA
Media. She received the 2006 Asian Heritage Award in Science, Technology,
and Research. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of
Colorado, and an MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University. She
attended Peking University and Peking Union Medical College in China.
Dr. Kevin Chen is VP of BioDuro LLC, and is in charge of China operation.
BioDuro is a Life Science Outsourcing company based in San Diego, USA
and has R&D operation in Beijing, China. Kevin was general manager and
co-founder of IgCon Therapeutic Company, a biotech company focusing on
therapeutic human antibody development for Asian health care market. Dr.
Chen was appointed as the Director of R&D Center, Novo Nordisk China in
1997 and served as a member of board of directors of China Management
Group, Novo Nordisk China. Dr. Chen worked at Shanghai VC as the head of
Biotech from 2001 to 2002. He is the member of biotech strategic planning
committee under National Development and Reform Commission, P.R. China,
and the senior consultant of PuDong New Area Biomedical Industrial
Development, Shanghai, China.
Before joining Novo Nordisk, Dr. Chen worked as a principal investigator at
Central Research & Development, DuPont Company, USA, and as a senior
postdoctoral fellow in the Bioprocess Engineering Development Center at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. He pioneered the concept
and technology of directed molecular evolution for protein engineering in
non-aqueous solvent. Dr. Chen is originally from Shanghai, China. He
received a Ph.D. degree from University of Minnesota, Twin cities, USA in
1990.
Charles Hsu, PhD, MBA
Venture Partner, Pappas Ventures
Charles has been an active venture capital investor since 1990 and joined
Pappas in early 2005. He was a General Partner of the Walden Group or its
affiliate, Walden International, from early 1996 through early 2003. Prior to
joining Walden, he co-managed life sciences investments at Advent
International, a global private equity firm based in Boston. He has served as a
lead investor or board member for more than 25 life science and healthcare
companies, and he was a founding investor of Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals
(IPO in 1996). He received his Ph.D. and MBA from Stanford University, and
AB in biochemistry from Harvard University.
Jason (Gang) Jin, Ph.D.
President and CEO, MaxyBio Corporation and Senior Vice
President, Global Business Development ShanghaiBio Corporation
(Shanghai Biochip, Ltd).
Oversea Director of Technology Transfer Office (USA) for Shanghai
Institutes of Biology Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Jin has
extensive experience in genomics, pharmacogenomics, proteomics, preclinical research, and clinical studies. He held positions as Directors of
Genomics Lab at Purdue Pharma, Functional Genomics at Salk Institute,
National Engineering Center for Biochip at Shanghai, and radiologist at
Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital. Dr. Jin received Postdoctoral Fellow, Ph.D.
and M.S. degrees in Bioengineering from U.C. San Diego, and medical
trainings from School of Medicine at Fudan University.
Steven Kradjian, RAC
President, Kradjian Consulting, LLC
Steven Kradjian, RAC, is President of Kradjian Consulting, LLC, a
multidisciplinary senior consulting firm capable of expediting new drug
product development from candidate selection through clinical evaluation via
a structured team of experienced product development professionals.
Mr. Kradjian earned a degree in Chemistry from Occidental College and
completed the Kellogg School of Management’s program for senior
regulatory affairs professionals. He was Principal Investigator for NIH
Regulatory Submissions for HIV Vaccines. During his career, including
service at Amgen and Vical, he has served on various product management
committees, filed or supported numerous IND/CTA submissions, and
participated in four product approvals.
Dr. Jason (Gang) Jin is President/CEO of MaxyBio Corporation and Senior
VP of Global Business Development in ShanghaiBio Corporation (Shanghai
Biochip, Ltd). Dr. Jin is developing globalization solutions to American and
Chinese pharmaceutical/biotech industries for broad collaborations in R&D
and product distribution and manufacturing. He also serves as Professor and
Henry Q. X. Li, Ph.D.
Director of Oncology and Metabolic Diseases, Immusol Inc.
Dr. Li currently heads the therapeutic discovery/development areas of the
oncology and metabolic disease programs at Immusol Inc., a San Diego based
biopharmaceutical company. These include preclinical development of both
biologics and small molecules that are now at stage of IND filing for human
trials, which also involved outsourcing and collaborations with both domestic
and overseas partners and CROs. He has been instrumental in spearheading
the cancer target discovery/validation efforts and related technology
development in Immusol, and led a major collaboration in cancer with
Novartis.
Dr. Li is a Direct of Clinical Research Operations – Asia Pacific at Merck,
responsible for regulatory policy development in China and selected countries
in the region. Prior to joining Merck, Dr. Li had worked at US FDA for seven
years, holding various clinical positions, including medical team leader with
the office of new drugs. He was a recipient of eight FDA awards, including
2003 FDA Scientific Achievement Award. He speaks frequently at the US
and international conferences/seminars on the regulatory and clinical issues
related to IND and NDA review practice and process in the US. Prior to
joining US FDA, Dr. Li had worked as a senior epidemiologist at Sharp
HealthCare in San Diego for more than seven years. Dr. Li, a graduate of
Peking Union Medical College in Beijing China, completed his residency
training at Johns Hopkins in 1999 and is board-certified in preventive
medicine. In addition, Dr. Li holds two master degrees in public health.
Alan Paau MBA, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice Chancellor, University of California, San Diego
Dr. Li is currently on the editorial board of the journal Current Signal
Transduction Therapy, an editor of a book and an author on numerous
scientific publications. He received postdoctoral training at UCLA School of
Medicine, Ph.D. from University of California, Irvine, M.S. from Shanghai
Medical University (Fudan), and B.S. from University of Science and
Technology of China.
Zili Li, MD, MPH
Direct of Clinical Research Operations – Asia Pacific
Merck & Co., Inc.
Prior to UCSD (invent.ucsd.edu), Dr. Alan Paau was Executive Director of
the Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc. and Director of
Intellectual Property & Technology Transfer at Iowa State University (Ames,
IA). Previously, he was Associate Director of the Biotechnology Center at the
Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) with responsibilities in 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, Dr.Paau held various research
and management positions in the Cetus Corporation and the W.R. Grace & Co.
organization for over 10 years. Dr. Paau holds a Ph.D. degree in Biological
Sciences and a Master of Business Administration degree. He is the inventor
to 8 US patents and has contributed thirty peer-reviewed research articles to
scientific journals and six invited reviews/ chapters to technical books. As a
director of intellectual property and a licensing executive, he supervised the
execution of over 500 licenses and option agreements and the formation of
over 30 startup companies using university innovations.
Richard M. Soll, Ph.D.
Vice President of Research & Development and Chief Scientific Officer
Glenn Rice, Ph.D.
Founder, CEO, and President, Bridge Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Dr. Soll has over 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience including 11
years at Wyeth Ayerst and 8 years at 3-D Pharmaceuticals where he founded
the Chemistry Dept. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Dartmouth
College and conducted post doctoral research at Harvard. He is an author on
numerous scientific publications and is named as an inventor or co-inventor
on more than 65 issued or pending patents.
Glenn Rice, Ph.D. is founder and CEO and President of Bridge
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Bridge is the leading preclinical contractor of Asian
FDA compliant drug development services for the US and EU markets.
Previously (2002-2004), Dr. Rice headed life sciences at SRI International
(Stanford Research Institute- VP Biosciences), consisting of a department of
approximately 180 scientists and staff. Prior to SRI, Dr. Rice was Board
Director and VP Research at ILEX Oncology, which was sold to Genzyme
Corp. in 2004. Prior to ILEX he was a founder and CEO, President and
Chairman of Convergence Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held cancer
biopharmaceutical company, which was sold to ILEX Oncology.
He is currently founder and founder of EmergingMed, an online clinical trial
prequalification and matching database and a co-founder of C-PATH, an
Institute focused on drug development and regulatory innovation he helped
found with the FDA and the University of Arizona. Prior to Convergence, Dr.
Rice was Vice President of Research at Cytokine Networks (1998-1999), and
Director of Cell Therapeutics (CTI) from 1993-1998. He headed a discovery
laboratory at Genentech from 1987-1993. Dr. Rice is currently an inventor
on over 20 patents or patent applications and has authored over 75
manuscripts and book chapters.
Peng Chen, Ph.D.
Attorney, Morrison Foerster law firm
Dr. Chen's practice focuses on patent prosecution, client counseling, opinion
and litigation and encompasses all fields of the biotechnology and
pharmaceutical industries. Dr. Chen has a significant amount of experience in
preparing and prosecuting biotechnology and pharmaceutical patents. He has
managed entire patent portfolios for biotechnology clients, advising the clients
on maximizing their own patent positions and designing patent strategy in
dealing with other entities' patents. Dr. Chen also has been litigating
biotechnology patents, especially in the area of in vitro diagnostics. Prior to
joining the firm, Dr. Chen practiced patent law at a national intellectual
property boutique firm and a major California general practice firm. Peng
Chen obtained his B.S. in Beijing Normal University in 1986 , and got Ph.D
from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1993. Later he decided
to start a career for patent law, and went to Columbia Law School and got his
J.D. in 1997
Ming Guo, Ph.D.
Vice President of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Manufacturing
Ascenta Therapeutics
Sylvie Sakata, Ph.D.
Associate Director of Chemistry, Pfizer La Jolla and Nagoya
Sylvie received her Bachelor of Science with Honors at the University of
California Irvine in 1993. She continued her studies organic chemistry and
natural product synthesis with Professor Larry Overman, and obtained her
PhD at UCI in the fall of 1998. She started her career in industry at Agouron
Pharmaceutical in the Chemical Research and Development as a research
scientist and had the opportunity to lead projects within Development. Over a
three year period, while in CRD, she worked on the development of the Rhino
Virus (common cold) and HIV NNRTI programs. In 2001, she redirected her
career to move to Medicinal Chemistry where she has had the opportunity to
continue to work in many Antiviral programs at Warner Lambert now Pfizer.
During the same period, she lead the entire chemistry sourcing initiative for
Pfizer La Jolla. She is currently the Associate Director of Chemistry Sourcing
in charge for both sites at Pfizer La Jolla and Nagoya. She is also a member of
the Pfizer Global Discovery Chemistry Sourcing Group.
Dr. Guo has joined Ascenta Therapeutics in March 2005. He has
assumed the responsibilities of Vice President of Pharmaceutical
Sciences and Manufacturing. He came to Ascenta from Pfizer,
where, for eight years, he led many aspects of drug development
activities, both in-house and outsourced, for multiple clinical
drug development candidates in oncology, metabolic diseases,
and infectious diseases (anti-viral agents). In addition to his
technical leadership in process chemistry and manufacturing at
Pfizer, Dr. Guo was also responsible for project management of
exploratory drug candidates focusing on CMC issues. One of the
oncology project teams he led was the recipient of a Team
Recognition Award in 2004. Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Guo was
responsible for process chemistry research and development of
pharmaceuticals and agrichemicals at Monsanto and ABC
Laboratories for seven years. Before his industrial career started
at the beginning of 1991, Dr. Guo was an organic chemistry
research associate at the University of California at San Diego
(UCSD) and the Institute of Materia Medica (IMM) in
China. He holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from UCSD and
an M.S. in Medicinal Chemistry from IMM. Dr. Guo is a cofounder of SABPA (www.sabpa.org) and the first Chairman of the
Board of Directors from its inauguration on 8 June 2002 until
June 2005.
Joseph D. Panetta, MPH
President and CEO of BIOCOM
Environmental Program. Mr. Panetta received a bachelor of
science degree in biology from LeMoyne College and a Master
of Public Health degree from the University of Pittsburgh.
Sofie Qiao, Ph.D.
LEAD Therapeutics, Inc. President and Co-Founder
Joseph Panetta is President and CEO and a member of the Board
of Directors of BIOCOM, the regional association representing
over 450 biotechnology, medical device, diagnostics, medical
equipment and bioagriculture companies in the San Diego area,
and the considerable number of service sector companies, civic
organizations, municipalities, as well as the universities, colleges
and biomedical research institutions in the San Diego region. As
President and CEO, Mr. Panetta is responsible for executing on
BIOCOM's mission of serving as a catalyst in positioning the
San Diego biotechnology community to achieve global success
working with a staff of 14 and a 52 member Board of Directors.
Mr. Panetta has been actively involved in biotechnology product
development and commercialization for more than 20 years,
having assuming leadership roles at Pennwalt Corporation,
Mycogen Corporation, and Dow AgroSciences, before joining
BIOCOM as its first President and CEO. Mr. Panetta's
association involvement includes serving as founding member
and chairman of numerous national and international level
biotechnology committees including the International
Biotechnology Forum. He has advised the National Academy of
the Sciences on biotechnology policy issues and has testified
before a number of congressional committees on legislation
regarding biotechnology policy and international trade. Mr.
Panetta has also been a representative to the Governor's Council
on Biotechnology and a Delegate to the Global Consultation on
Safety in Biotechnology under the auspices of the United Nations
Sofie Qiao was born and raised in Beijing, started her
undergraduate studies at Peking University and transferred to
Harvard after two years. After receiving her B.A. in chemistry
from Harvard and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from MIT, she
worked as a medicinal chemist for two years at Genzyme
Corporation before joining McKinsey & Company at its Boston
office. From McKinsey, she joined Syrrx, Inc. as Director of
Business Development in 2002, and later worked as Director of
Business Operations at Discovery Partners International, Inc. She
co-founded LEAD Therapeutics, a drug discovery company
spanning the US and China, in spring of 2006.
Hui Li, Ph.D
Principle Scientist, Pfizer Global Research & Development
President, Sino-American Biotech & Pharmaceutical
Association (SABPA)
Dr. Li received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Peking
University and Ph.D in Organic Chemistry from University of
California , San Diego under the guidance of Professor K. C.
Nicolaou. He then joined Pfizer Global Research & Development
where he has been working in drug discovery programs targeting
virus (particularly Hepatitis C), diabetes and ophthalmology.
Currently he is a project leader in the field of diabetes and
diabetic complications at PGRD and serving as the President of
the Sino-American Biotech & Pharmaceutical Association
(SABPA).
Dr. Zhenping Wu
Senior Director, Pharmaceutical Sciences at Phenomix
Corporation
Dr. Zhenping Wu is currently Senior Director of Pharmaceutical
Sciences at Phenomix Corporationin San Diego , California . In
this role, he is responsible for all Chemistry, Manufacturing, and
Control activities of development projects. Before joining
Phenomix, Dr. Wu held a number of positions with increasing
responsibilities in the Pharmaceutical Science Division at Pfizer
Global Research & Development in San Diego , California
where his last position was Director of Pharmaceutical
Chemistry.
Dr. Zhenping Wu received a Ph. D. degree from Hong Kong
University , and an MBA degree from the University of
California at Irvine . He joined Syntex Corporation to start his
career in the Pharmaceutical industry in 1991 and moved to San
Diego in 1998 to join Agouron/Pfizer in 2000. Dr. Wu is
currently the Chairman of the Board of Sino-American
Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Association. He received a
Colleague Recognition Award in 2003 for his work on the Sutent
project, a new anti-cancer drug, and a Dean's Scholar Award
from the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of
California at Irvine in the same year. He was the recipient of a
Fellowship of the Hong Kong-Guangzhou culture exchange
program in 1984 and of an American Heart association
fellowship in 1990. He has published 18 scientific papers and is
the co-inventors of four patents. Dr Wu has spoken on many
technical and business issues related to drug discovery and
development at international conferences.