Mark J. Benedyk, Ph.D., Head of the Pfizer Incubator

Dr. Mark Benedyk, is Head of The Pfizer Incubator LLC. Prior to joining The Pfizer Incubator, Dr. Benedyk was Vice President of Business Development at Ascenta Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel, pro-apoptotic small molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer. There he managed the patent estate for the company, led all contract and licensing negotiations for Ascenta, and was part of the executive team that secured $50 million for Ascenta's Series C financing.

Before coming to Ascenta, Dr. Benedyk was Vice President of Business Development and Director of Optimer Biotechnology, an international biotechnology subsidiary of Optimer Pharmaceuticals, with operations in the U.S. , Singapore and Taiwan . While there, he managed the patent estate for the company, licensed prulifloxacin, a fluoroquinoline antibiotic from Nippon Shinyaku in Japan, led business development activities for Optimer Biotechnology in Singapore, and was part of the executive team that raised $22 million for the Series C&D financing rounds for Optimer prior to its successful IPO in February of 2007.

Previously, Dr. Benedyk held business development positions at rila bioconsulting, Farmal Biomedicines, Aurora Biosciences (now Vertex Pharmaceuticals), Élan Pharmaceuticals, and Argonex Corporation. During his tenure in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, Dr. Benedyk has personally led transactions worth over $300 million and participated in over $500 million worth of product licensing, corporate acquisition and fundraising transactions. Dr. Benedyk received his Ph.D. in Genetics and Developmental Biology from The Rockefeller University, where he was a Lucille P. Markey Graduate Fellow. He received his B.S. in Microbiology and Botany from the University of Michigan.

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Balkrishen Bhat , Ph.D., Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry, Regulus Therapeutics

Dr. Balkrishen Bhat is Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Regulus Therapeutics, a leading biopharmaceuticals company with a mission to discover, develop and commercialize microRNA therapeutics. Prior to joining Regulus, Dr. Bhat was Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Isis Pharmaceuticals, a world leader in antisense therapeutics. While at Isis, Dr. Bhat directed multiple research projects to design and develop novel chemistries resulting in significant improvements in drug properties of antisense oligonucleotides including microRNA antagonists. In addition, Dr. Bhat was an alliance manager for Isis’ collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies.

Prior to joining Isis, Dr. Bhat worked with Professor Nelson J. Leonard at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign investigating the effect of defined structural constraints in DNA and RNA molecules on biological activity of these molecules using novel fluorescent nucleic acids probes.

Dr. Bhat earned his Ph.D. degree in medicinal chemistry from Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow India, where a compound resulting from his graduate work was developed as an antimalarial drug. Furthermore, Dr. Bhat’s research efforts led to the development of a short and efficient process for the commercial antimalarial drug “Quinocide”. Dr. Bhat has co-authored more than 125 publications and patents and has written several reviews and book chapters.

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Stephen A. Bent, Partner, Foley & Lardner

Mr. Stephen A. Bent, a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP, is a member of the Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Practice Group, as well as the Health Care and Nanotechnology Industry Teams. He is the founder and a former co-chair of the Life Sciences Industry Team. Mr. Bent counsels clients on the legal issues associated with biotechnology asset valuation and management, venture capital, licensing and technology transfer, corporate acquisitions, and disputes involving biotechnology and pharmaceutical patents. He is a principal in the firm's China initiative and is active in Foley & Lardner's Shanghai office.

Mr. Bent has developed an international reputation in biotechnology intellectual property law, with a number of publications to his credit in both scientific and legal journals. The Practical Law Company's Cross Border Life Sciences Handbook has ranked Mr. Bent as one of the top five U.S. life sciences attorneys in the IP category annually since 2004. He has also been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2007 and 2008 editions of The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of biotechnology law.

A graduate of Earlham College (B.S., biology), the University of Connecticut (M.S., 1976), and the George Washington University Law School (J.D., with high honors, 1981), Mr. Bent served as technical assistant to the Honorable Phillip B. Baldwin, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, from 1981 to 1983. He is a member of the editorial board of The Scientist.

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Hui Cai, Ph.D., M.B.A., Vice President of Corporate Development, HUYA Bioscience

Dr. Hui Cai is Chairwoman of the Board of the Sino-American Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Professionals Association (SABPA), Honorary President of San Diego Chinese Association (SDCA), and Chair-Elect of the American Chemical Society San Diego Section (ACS San Diego). She also serves as a commissioner at City of San Diego Science and Technology Commission, and a member of BIOCOM Asia Task Force Steering Committee.

Dr. Hui Cai is the Vice President of Corporate Development at HUYA Bioscience International, a San Diego-headquartered biopharmaceutical company that pioneers an integrated drug co-development model to reduce risk and cost of drug development by comprehensively sourcing, licensing, and co-developing validated drug candidates from China . She came to HUYA with over nine years of drug discovery experience at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development in San Diego, working on small molecule drug discovery programs targeting immune mediated inflammatory diseases. She co-led a multi-functional drug discovery team and contributed to an entry from lead optimization to human clinical trials. She is a co-author and co-inventor to nearly 40 scientific publications and issued or pending patents.

Dr. Cai received her B.S. and M.S. from Peking University , Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute, and MBA in 2007 from the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego as the 2005 DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary - Athena FlexMBA Scholar.

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Sui-Xiong Cai, Ph.D., Senior Director of Chemistry, EpiCept Corporation

Dr. Sui Xiong Cai is Senior Director of Chemistry of EpiCept Corporation. Prior to the merger of Maxim Pharmaceuticals with EpiCept, Dr. Cai was Senior Director of Chemistry of Maxim. Dr. Cai was Director of Chemistry and then Senior Director of Chemistry of Cytovia and joined Maxim when Cytovia was acquired. Prior to joining Cytovia, a company spun off from CoCensys, Dr. Cai was Associate Director of Chemistry at CoCensys. He was one of the early employees of Acea and moved to CoCensys after Acea was acquired.

Dr. Cai has extensive experience in drug research and development, including inducers of apoptosis as anti-cancer agents; inhibitors of caspases for the treatment of CNS, MCI and other degenerative diseases; inhibitors of SARS coronavirus proteases for the treatment of SARS; antagonists and modulators of glutamate receptors, include Glycine/NMDA receptors, NMDA subtype receptors and AMPA receptors, for the treatment of CNS diseases; voltage dependent Na channel blockers for the treatment of CNS diseases; as well as novel fluorescent dyes and substrates for the development of HTS assays. Dr. Cai also has expertise in the management of company patent portfolio and intellectual property, and is on the Editorial Advisory Board for Recent Patents on Anti -Cancer Drug Discovery, Drug Design Reviews-Online and The Open Cancer Journal. He is the co-inventor of 70 issued US patents and has published 80 peer-reviewed papers. Dr. Cai earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Oregon and his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China. He has served in the Board of Directors of SABPA since its inception in 2002.

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Charles Cantor, Ph.D., CSO, Sequenom

Dr. Charles Cantor is a founder, Chief Scientific Officer, and Member, Board of Directors, at SEQUENOM, Inc.  He is also founder of SelectX Pharmaceuticals, a drug discovery company based in the Boston area; Retrotope, an anti-aging company; and DiThera a biotherapeutic company.  He is co-director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology at Boston University, and professor of Biomedical Engineering.  Dr. Cantor has held positions at Columbia University and University of California at Berkeley, and was also director of the Human Genome Center of the Department of Energy at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.  He has published more than 440 peer-reviewed articles, has been granted more than 60 patents.  He co-authored a three-volume textbook on Biophysical Chemistry and the first textbook on Genomics:  The Science and Technology of the Human Genome Project.  He sits on the advisory boards of more than 15 national and international organizations and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Shu Chien, M.D., Ph.D., University Professor of Bioengineering and Medicine, UCSD

Dr. Shu Chien is University Professor of Bioengineering and Medicine of the University of California System and Director of UC System-wide "Bioengineering Institute in California".  At UC San Diego, Dr. Chien is Y.C. Fung Professor of Bioengineering & Medicine and Director of the Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering. He was Chair of the Department of Bioengineering, which he founded, from 1994-1999 and 2002-2005. Dr. Chien received his medical degree from National Taiwan University and Ph.D. in Physiology from Columbia University, where he was Professor of Physiology and Biophysics and Director of Circulatory Physiology and Biophysics from 1969 to 1988. In 1987, Dr. Chien established Taiwan's Institute of Biomedical Sciences in Academia Sinica in Taiwan.

Dr. Chien's main research areas are molecular, cellular and integrative studies on bioengineering and physiology in health and disease. His current work is focused on how mechanical forces modulate the molecular signaling and gene expression in vascular endothelial cells, and consequently blood vessel functions. He is the author of nearly 500 peer-reviewed journal articles and editor of eleven books.  He has received many awards and honors, including the Fahraeus Medal, Landis Award, Melville Medal (twice), Zweifach Award, ALZA Award, Ray Daggs Award, Cannon Lecture Award, Poiseuille Gold Medal, Galletti Award, Asian American Engineer of the Year Award, and the Founders Award of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

Dr. Chien is Honorary Professor of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chungqing University, Peking University and Zhejiang University, recipients of Honorary Doctoral Degrees from Chung-Yuan Christian University and National Taiwan University. He is an Honorary Member of the Chinese Physiological Society in Taiwan and the first Honorary Member of the Chinese Association of Physiological Sciences in the last sixty years. Dr. Chien is the first Honorary Member of Sino-American Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Association.

Dr. Chien has served as President of the Microcirculatory Society, Chinese American Medical Society, Chinese American Academic and Professional Association, American Physiological Society, Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology, and American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and he is currently President of the Biomedical Engineering Society and the International Society of Biorheology.

Dr. Chien is a Member of all three U.S. National Academies, i.e., the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, and NAE, as well as Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).  He is a Member of Academia Sinica in Taiwan and a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

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Xiangming Fang, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Acrotics

Dr. Xiangming Fang is specializing in biomedical research and product development, with 26 years experience, including 15 years of biotech industry experience and 10 years of management experience. Previously as the Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of GenWay Biotech, she is responsible for new technology and product development and production, as well as customer support and partnership coordination. Prior to GenWay, Dr. Fang served at GenStar Therapeutics, initially as the Director of the Cancer Program and the Director of Preclinical Studies, then as Vice President, Hemophilia and Vector Development. She managed preclinical studies of hemophilia and cancer programs. She also worked closely with regulatory personnel for Pre-IND and IND submission, preparation of the IND annual report, and for dealing with other FDA and RAC related issues. As the Study Director of GenStar's first clinical trial for hemophilia A, she was involved in reviewing the Clinical Trial Protocol and the Investigator's Brochure, and for managing clinical lab establishment and in-house testing of the clinical samples.

In her previous employment, as a Research Scientist at Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Dr. Fang was the co-inventor of the oncolytic dual-viral system for cancer gene therapy. Prior to Baxter, as a Sr. Scientist at GeneMedicine, Inc., Dr. Fang led the effort to develop a non-viral vector system for gene therapy of hemophilia B. Dr. Fang obtained her M.D. degree from Zhejiang University Medical School and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Alabama . She completed her postdoctoral studies at the University of Texas , MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Xiangming Fang serves as a member of Board of Directors and Chair of Science & Technology Committee of SABPA.

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Standish M. Fleming, M.B.A., Managing Member of Forward Ventures

A 20-year veteran of biotech investing, Standish Fleming co-founded Forward as a venture capital investment firm.  

Throughout his career at Forward, Fleming has served as acting president of several portfolio companies, including Triangle Pharmaceuticals [NASDAQ:VIRS], Actigen (now Corixa [NASDAQ:CRXA]), GenQuest (now Corixa [NASDAQ:CRXA]) and CombiChem (now DuPont Pharmaceuticals [NYSE:DD]). He was a founding board member of Ciphergen Biosystems, Gryphon Sciences and Triangle Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Fleming is a former president of the Biotechnology Venture Investors' Group ("BVIG"). 

He now serves as a director of Ambit, Nereus, Kemia, and Sanarus. Fleming earned his B.A. from Amherst College and M.B.A. from the UCLA Graduate School of Management.

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Ming Guo, Ph.D., Vice President, Pharmaceutical Sciences & Manufacturing, General Manager, Ascenta (Shanghai) R&D Center, Ascenta Therapeutics, Inc.

Before Dr. Guo joined Ascenta in 2005, he was at Pfizer for more than 8 years, where he led all aspects of drug manufacturing and process development activities for multiple clinical drug development candidates in oncology, metabolic diseases, and infectious diseases. In addition to his technical leadership in, Dr. Guo was also responsible for project management of exploratory drug candidates. One of the oncology project teams he led was the recipient of a team recognition award just prior to his departure. Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Guo spent 6 years at Monsanto and ABC Laboratories, where he was responsible for process chemistry research and the development of pharmaceuticals and agrichemicals. He built the organic chemistry program at ABC Laboratories as its new business line. 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 PhD in organic chemistry from UCSD and a master's degree in medicinal chemistry from IMM. Dr. Guo is the co-founder and the first Chairman of Board of SABPA. He is also an adjunct professor of Peking University .

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Edward W. Holmes, M.D. Executive Deputy Chairman, BMRC, Executive Chairman, National Medical Research Council, Singapore

Dr. Holmes was appointed a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator at Duke University School of medicine in 1974 and later became the James B. Wyngaarden Professors of Medicine. He was recruited to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1991 as the Chair of the Department of Medicine and the Frank Wister Thomas Professor of Medicine and Genetics.  In 1997 he became the Joseph Grant Professor in the School of Medicine, the Senior Associate Dean for Research, Vice President of Translational Medicine and Clinical Research, and Special Counsel to the President of the University on Biomedical Research at Stanford University.  In January 1999 Dr. Holmes returned to Duke University as the Dean of the School of Medicine and Walter Kempner Professor in Medicine and Genetics.  Dr. Holmes was appointed Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences and Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego in the fall of 2000 and served in this role until October 2006.  He is currently a Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and Vice Chancellor/Dean of Health Sciences, Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Holmes became the Executive Deputy Chairman of the Biomedical Research Council  and the Executive Chairman of the National Medical Research Council in Singapore in October 2006, and he also holds an appointment as the Lien Ying Chow Professor of Medicine at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. 

Dr. Holmes has engaged in basic biomedical and clinical research throughout his academic career and his laboratory has focused on the molecular bases of human disease. 

Dr. Holmes has served on the Council of Advisors for the National Institute for Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, and he currently serves as Chair of the Research Advisory Board of GlaxoSmithKline.  He has received Distinguished Alumnus Awards from the University of Pennsylvania and Duke University. He has been elected to membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Hua Jin, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, the University of California, San Diego

Dr. Jin is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and medical director of MCCE program in the division of geropsychiatry. Dr. Jin has extensive experience in psychiatry research and clinical trials, and has published over 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is a consultant on international clinical trials for Stanley Medical Research Foundation.

Dr. Jin received his medical degree from Shanghai Medical University and completed his psychiatry residency training at both the Shanghai Mental Health Center and in the department of psychiatry at UCSD. He has been on the faculty of the UCSD Department of Psychiatry and staff psychiatrist at VA San Diego Healthcare System since he graduated from his residency training in 2001.

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Stephen W. Kaldor, Ph.D. President and CEO, Ambrx

Dr. Steve Kaldor joined Ambrx in 2007 as President & CEO.  Ambrx is a privately held biotechnology company that has built a robust portfolio of clinical and pre-clinical phase protein and antibody drug candidates using its proprietary biologics platform.  Ambrx is well financed and has ongoing partnerships with Merck, Lilly, and Merck-Serono.

Steve served as President & CSO of Syrrx from 2003-2005, and led the company through its $270MM acquisition by Takeda in 2005 and for several years post acquisition.  Syrrx and its successor entity, Takeda San Diego, used innovative structure-based design techniques to produce a steady stream of diabetes and oncology clinical candidates including AlogliptinTM, a DPP-4 inhibitor for the treatment of diabetes for which an NDA was submitted in early 2008.

Prior to joining Syrrx, Steve gained 12 years of drug discovery and development experience at Eli Lilly and Company as both a researcher and Director with line management responsibility for groups of up to 270 people.   He received his formal education in organic chemistry at Harvard University (Ph.D.) and Columbia University (B.A.).  Steve is the co-inventor of multiple compounds spanning several therapeutic areas that have advanced into the clinic including ViraceptTM, a marketed HIV protease inhibitor.  He is the author of numerous drug discovery-related patents and publications and serves as a board member for several biotechs and venture capital firms.

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Hui Li, Ph.D., Senior Principal Scientist, Pfizer Global Research La Jolla

Dr. Hui Li is currently research project leader and senior principal scientist at Pfizer Global Research & Development, La Jolla Laboratories, where he leads a multi-disciplinary discovery research team to identify clinical candidate(s) into human trial. His research interests include structure-based drug design, discovery and development of novel therapeutics in the field of anti-viral, diabetes and ophthalmology. Dr. Li obtained his B.S degree from Peking University and Ph.D in organic chemistry from University of California, San Diego. There he worked under the guidance of Professor K. C. Nicolaou on new synthetic technology development and the total synthesis of glycopeptide antibiotic Vancomycin.

Dr. Li is a founding member of the Sino-American Biomedical & Pharmaceutical Association (SABPA) in 2002 and is currently serving as President and vice chairman of the board.

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Jack Lief, M.S., Co-Founder, Chairman, President and CEO, Arena

Mr. Jack Lief is a co-founder of Arena and has served as a director and President and Chief Executive Officer since April 1997. Mr. Lief has also served as the Chairman of our Board of Directors since October 2007. From 1995 to April 1997, Mr. Lief served as an advisor and consultant to numerous biopharmaceutical organizations. From 1989 to 1994, Mr. Lief served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Secretary of Cephalon, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. From 1983 to 1989, Mr. Lief served as Director of Business Development and Strategic Planning for Alpha Therapeutic Corporation, a manufacturer of biological products. Mr. Lief joined Abbott Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company, in 1972, where he served until 1983, most recently as the head of International Marketing Research. Mr. Lief serves as a member of the board of directors of Adventrx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a research and development company focused on pharmaceuticals for cancer and infectious disease. Mr. Lief is also an Executive Board Member of BIOCOM, a life science industry association representing more than 550 member companies in Southern California, and was the Chairman of the board of directors of BIOCOM from March 2005 to March 2006. Mr. Lief holds a B.A. from Rutgers University and an M.S. in Psychology (Experimental and Neurobiology) from Lehigh University.

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Jane Moores, Ph.D., Assistant Vice Chancellor- Intellectual Property, the University of California, San Diego

Dr. Jane Moores is currently Assistant Vice Chancellor- Intellectual Property at the University of California, San Diego. She and the staff in Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Services (TechTIPS) are responsible for protecting, managing and licensing the intellectual property of UC San Diego including inventions in the biomedical, life science and physical sciences sectors, copyright-protected materials such as software and images, and tangible research materials. Dr. Moores is also involved in establishing relationships with local, national and international business and academic communities.

Before joining TechTIPS in 1999 as a Senior Licensing Officer, Dr. Moores spent 12 years at Stratagene, a San Diego company that supplies biological reagents and instruments to the research community. During her time at Stratagene, Dr. Moores worked in product research and development, and also in several aspects of business development.

Dr. Moores holds B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in microbiology from University College, London. She performed post-doctoral research at UC San Diego in the Chemistry Department, where she was involved in cloning bacterial genes, and in the School of Medicine, where she helped to develop retroviral vectors for gene therapy.

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Lei Sun, Ph.D. CEO and President, AbMax Biotechnology

Dr. Lei Sun is CEO & President of AbMax Biotechnology, Inc. Dr. Sun has more than 20 yrs experience in antibody-based cell signaling research and drug development. His team has generated monoclonal antibodies against over 500 different targets, many of them have been published in well-known journals. His team has been recognized by its clients as the best monoclonal antibody development company, selected as the preferred vendor for 15 top Pharmaceutical, Biotech companies and key research institutes in the world. Dr. Sun was Director of Research and Development at Upstate Biotechnology Inc., NY, USA , a market leader in the biotechnology research reagents sector for cancer biology. His team introduced 200+ new antibodies and enzymes every year. Prior to that, he served as Director of Production at Upstate Biotechnology. Dr. Sun received his PhD in biochemistry/cell biology from Tsinghua University ( Beijing ). Dr. Sun spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. David Barnes's lab at Oregon State University , where he established primary cultures of zebrafish embryonic stem cells.

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Judith Swain, M.D., Executive Director, the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS)

Dr. Judith L. Swain is currently the Executive Director of the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences within A*STAR, and the Lien Ying Chow Professor of Medicine at the National University of Singapore.  Prior to coming to Singapore she was the Dean for Translational Medicine and the Founding Director of the College of Integrated Life Sciences (COILS) at the University of California, San Diego.   Dr. Swain previously served as Chair of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University and held the Arthur Bloomfield and George E. Becker Professorships.  Prior to her appointment at Stanford, she was the Herbert C. Rorer Professor of Medical Sciences, Professor of Genetics, and Director of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  Dr. Swain received her undergraduate education at the University of California, Los Angeles, and her medical education at the University of California, San Diego, before moving to Duke University for training in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine.  She then joined the faculty at Duke where she became widely known in the field of molecular cardiology, and pioneered the use of transgenic animals to understand the genetic basis of cardiovascular development and disease. Her current research interests are centered on assessing and enhancing human performance in extreme environments.   She recently co-founded a center called OptiBrain with the goal of optimizing brain resources for performance in extreme environments.  This center is collaboration between UC San Diego, the Naval Health Research Center (San Diego), and the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

Dr. Swain has served in a number of national leadership roles, including president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and of the American Association of Physicians.  She has served on the NIH Director's Standing Committee on Clinical Research, the NIH National Advisory Research Resources Council and the NRC Commission to evaluate the organization of the National Institutes of Health.  She served as a member of the Defense Science Research Council and currently serves on the Board on Army Science and Technology and on the Army Laboratory Assessment Group.  Dr. Swain has served on international advisory committees including those of the Wellcome Trust, the British Heart Association, and UK Medical Research Council, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.  She currently serves on the International Advisory Panel for Graduate Education of the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research, as a Director of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and on the SAB of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.  She serves as a director or member of the scientific advisory boards for a number of biomedical technology companies, and is co-founder of Synecor, LLC a medical device incubator company.  Dr. Swain has been elected to a number of honorary societies including the Association of American Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Institute of Medicine, where she is a member of the Governing Council.

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Feng Tian, Ph.D., Scientific Investigator, Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc.

Dr. Feng Tian is a Scientific Investigator at Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc. where he focuses on the discovery of novel small molecule drugs targeting liver diseases and metabolic diseases such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and liver fibrosis. After obtaining his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Peking University in China, he went to Michigan State University and acquired his Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry. Then he moved to San Diego and completed his postdoctoral research at the Scripps Research Institute.

Feng served as the program co-chair of Annual Symposium on Biopharmaceuticals in 2005 and 2007. Currently, he is a board member of SABPA and the President of San Diego Chinese Association, where he focuses on promoting volunteerism and fostering leadership among its members.

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Mike Varney, Ph.D., VP, Small Molecule Drug Discovery, Genentech

Dr. Michael Varney is vice president, Small Molecule Drug Discovery. In this role, Varney is responsible for directing the small molecule drug discovery efforts at Genentech and oversees the departments of Discovery Chemistry, Biochemical Pharmacology and Screening, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, and Small molecule Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Varney joined Genentech in June 2005 from Pfizer Global Research and Development, where he was vice president, Drug Discovery. He was responsible for the management and direction of all drug discovery activities at the Pfizer La Jolla, Calif. site. He began his career at Agouron Pharmaceuticals, where he built and led the chemistry teams and infrastructure necessary for the development of small molecule therapeutics. He became corporate vice president and head of Research, responsible for the management and direction of all research and drug discovery activities and continued to serve in leadership roles of increasing responsibility through the acquisition of Agouron by Pfizer.

Varney is a member of two scientific editorial advisory boards and the author of numerous scientific articles.

Varney received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles and holds a doctorate in Organic Synthesis from the California Institute of Technology. Varney was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University.

Outside of work, he likes biking with his wife and two children, playing his guitar and nurturing his garden.

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David M. Wallace, Ph.D., Medicinal Chemistry Consultant

Dr. Wallace is an experienced medicinal chemist with over 15 years experience in pharmaceutical industry. He currently consults for early and clinical stage biotech companies, providing synthetic and medicinal chemistry expertise in the area of small molecule drug discovery. Current and past companies include Mpex Pharmaceuticals, Allylix, Mirable and KMS, a subsidiary company of Biochemome Research. Dr. Wallace is also a co-founder of Amalyte, Inc, a Bay area biotech company focusing on the treatment of immune and inflammatory diseases. Dr. Wallace was previously Principal Scientist at Senomyx, Inc., where he served as chemistry group leader of a team focused on the discovery of agonists to G-protein coupled taste receptors. Prior to Senomyx, Dr. Wallace held senior scientific and leadership positions at Chugai Pharma, USA, where he contributed to several multidisciplinary research programs directed toward discovery of novel therapies for cancer, cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic diseases. He is an inventor or co-inventor on numerous issued or pending patents. Dr. Wallace holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from University of California, Davis and a B.S. in Chemistry from Wright State University.

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Troy Wilson, Ph.D., J.D. Co-Founder, President and CEO, Intellikine

Dr. Troy Wilson is co-founder, President and CEO of Intellikine, a development-stage company founded in 2007 and focused on lipid kinase inhibitors. A serial entrepreneur, Dr. Wilson previously co-founded Wildcat Discovery Technologies and Ambrx, Inc. He was previously Vice President of Business Development and General Counsel for the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in San Diego. Dr. Wilson received his J.D., Magna Cum Laude, from NYU School of Law and his Ph.D. in Bioorganic Chemistry and B.A. Biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley.

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Dajun Yang, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Director, Morningside Group

Dr. Dajun Yang is the Managing Director for biotechnology and healthcare in the Morningside Ventures Group. Dr. Yang co-founded Ascenta Therapeutics in 2003 and is senior VP of research. In 2005, he established Ascenta Shanghai, the company's wholly-owned R&D Facility in the Pudong High-Tech Park in Shanghai, China. Prior to Ascenta, Dr. Yang was an associate professor of internal medicine and member of Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Michigan; an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; and associate professor in the Department of Oncology and a senior investigator of the Lombardi Cancer Center at the Georgetown University Medical Center . Dr. Yang has more than 20 years of experience in cancer research and drug development. He is author and co-author of more than 60 papers, book chapters, patents and abstracts. Dr. Yang is the inventor of over ten national and international patents (issued/pending). He built the biology and pharmacology team for S*BIO Ltd Pte, a Singapore-Chiron Joint venture biopharmaceutical company where he served as the first VP of Biology.  Dr. Yang also holds an appointment currently as an Adjunct Professor in Department of Medicine at the University of Michigan, and a visiting professor at the Cancer Center of the Sun Yat-sen University in China.  Dr. Yang obtained his M.D. in 1983 from Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences (SUMS), and his Master of Medicine degree in Oncology in 1986 from the SUMS Cancer Center. He received his Ph.D. in genetics from Michigan State University. Dr. Yang served as president of the Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association (CBA) from 2003-2004.

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Xinxin Zhao, Deputy Director of Beijing Biotechnology Park

Mr. Xinxin Zhao serves as Deputy Director of Beijing Biotechnology Park . He is in charge of development and reformation, investment promotion, and manufacturing safety. He has many years of experiences in international trading, business development, and administrative work for foreign investment. He has hands-on experiences in policy control and execution. He is also the speaker for Administrative Committee of Beijing Ecnomic-Technological Development Area (BDA) and is experienced with public relationship, product and brand promotion.

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Wei Zhou, Ph.D.,J.D.,Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C.

Dr. Wei Zhou is a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C., a leading law firm focusing on technology and growth company legal issues, where he focuses on corporate and intellectual property issues facing life sciences companies in the United States and China.

Prior to joining the firm, Dr. Zhou was a vice president of intellectual property and advanced technology at Affymetrix, inc. (Santa Clara, CA), where he served as general manager of the company's China operations. During his time at Affymetrix, Wei made significant contributions to the company's patent portfoli -- ranked by the MIT Technology Review as No. 1 among pharmaceutical and biotech companies in 2002 -- and completed numerous scientific collaborations and partnering agreements, technology licensing agreements, commercial arrangements, and acquisitions.

Before joining Affymetrix, Dr. Zhou was an attorney at Pennie & Edmonds LLP in Palo Alto, where he focused on the fields of pharmaceutical compounds, biotechnology, bioinformatics, immunology, functional genomics, drug-discovery processes, and computer software.  Prior to embarking on his legal career, Dr. Zhou was a postdoctoral fellow in molecular and cellular gastroenterology at Emory University Medical School, a lecturer at Zhejiang University. 

Dr. Zhou obtained his J.D. from Stanford Law School, his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.  He is also a graduate of the General Management Program at Harvard Business School.

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Weimin Zhou, M.B.A., Vice-Director General of Beijing Investment Promotion Bureau

Mr. Zhou Weimin is Vice-Director General of Beijing Investment Promotion Bureau (Invest Beijing), Beijing Municipality . He received his PhD in business administration from the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT). He earned his Master of Public Administration (MPA) in international tax from the John Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University . He also holds his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Walter E. Heller College of Business Administration of Roosevelt University.

In 1994 to 2004, Mr. Zhou served as the Vice Mayor of Haidian District Government and a member of the Standing Committee of Haidian District of Communist Party of China (CPC). He was an Assistant Mayor of Haidian District Government, Beijing Municipality in 1993. He served as Deputy Director of Foreign Investment and Trade Department of Beijing Experimental Zone Office of New Technology Industry Development from 1989-1992. And, in 1987 to 1988, he was an Assistant Professor in International Tax & China's Tax System, and Western Economics at the Business School of BIT.

Mr. Zhou is an expert on Chinese and American tax laws. He has written dozens of articles on international tax law, which were published in China 's leading newspapers and magazines. In addition, he has co-authored four publications on foreign investment and trade.