BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Valued and respected for both their guidance, combined experiences and insights, our Board is comprised of individuals from the highest levels of leadership and management in the pharmaceutical industry. Their primary guidance is in matters of financial, strategic and operational importance for our company.
Click on a team member below to learn more
Brendan Delaney
Patrick Fabbio
Director
Lan Huang, Ph.D.
Co-founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Matthew Kirkby, M.A. has served on our board since October 13, 2016.
Mr. Kirkby brings over 20 years of banking experience to our board. He has held senior management positions in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. From 2015 to 2016 Mr. Kirkby served as Head of Corporate Banking Asia Pacific for HSBC in Hong Kong. From 2012 to 2015 Mr. Kirkby was the CEO North Asia and Co-Head of Investment Banking for CIMB in Hong Kong. He served as Managing Director, Global Head of ECM and Corporate Finance from 2008 to 2010 and Managing Director, Head of Global Banking Asia Pacific from 2010 to 2012 at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Between 1999 and 2007 Mr. Kirkby held various positions at ABN AMRO. He is currently a director or adviser to a number of privately held companies.
He received his M.A. in jurisprudence at Pembroke College, University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Patrick Fabbio, MBA, has served on our board since January 2, 2018.
Mr. Fabbio is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Rafael Holdings, Inc. Mr. Fabbio has more than 25 years of financial, operational and transactional leadership experience in both publicly-traded and privately-held life science and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining Rafael Holdings, Mr. Fabbio was Chief Financial Officer of WindMIL Therapeutics Inc. Previously he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., electroCore Medical, LLC; Vice President of Finance at NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Vice President of Finance, Innovation and Growth at Catalent Pharma Solutions Inc.; and Chief Financial Officer at Ikano Therapeutics. His other prior financial positions include roles at Sanofi, UniPath Diagnostics, BioMatrix and Coopers & Lybrand.
He received his B.B.A. in accounting at Pace University and MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Mr. Delaney brings more than 25 years of global product strategy and launch experience to his role leading commercial organizations. Currently he serves as the Chief Commercial Officer of Constellation Pharma starting in January 2021. Constellation was recently acquired by MorphoSys for $1.4B.
Prior to joining Constellation, Mr. Delaney was the Chief Commercial Officer at Immunomedics, where he led the buildout of the marketing, sales, market access and commercial operations teams. He was instrumental in successfully launching Trodelvy, the first TROP-2 directed antibody-drug conjugate for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. Immunomedics was acquired by Gilead Sciences for $21B in September 2020.
Previously, he served as Vice President of U.S. Hematology-Oncology at Celgene Corporation. Prior to joining Celgene, he held various commercial roles at both Novartis Oncology and Genentech, where he led several successful product launches for blockbuster brands.
He earned an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York Univesity and a B.A. in biology from Rutgers University.
Lan Huang, Ph.D. is our Co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and has been a member of the board of directors since November 2014.
Dr. Huang brings over 15 years of entrepreneurial experience in the Chinese and United States biotechnology industries. In 2010, Dr. Huang founded Wanchun Biotech, the former holding company of our U.S. subsidiary. In 2007, Dr. Huang co-founded Wuxi MTLH Biotechnology Co. Ltd, where she served as CEO in 2010 and continues to hold a directorship. The rights related to the development and marketing of the peptide drug in China, which drug Dr. Huang designed while at Wuxi MTLH Biotechnology Co. Ltd, were sold to Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group in 2010. Additionally, in 2008, Dr. Huang co-founded Paramax International Inc., a CRO that conducts clinical trials for global biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. Paramax International Inc. was acquired by ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. in 2009. Dr. Huang was trained at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 1998 to 2002, where her research in cancer signaling pathways involving P53 degradation was published in Science. Her translational research in cancer signaling pathways involving RAS was published in two Nature papers. She has invented and holds patents for a number of biotech products for oncology and dermatology indications.
Dr. Huang received her B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Lawrence University, where she served as a trustee from 2012 to 2015. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley, where she won the international-level Women’s Opportunity Award given by Soroptimist International. She also studied at Fudan University in Shanghai, China.
Matthew Kirkby
Jiangwen (Jen) Majeti, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Sihai Xu, M.B.A.
Ravindra Majeti, M.D., co-founded Forty Seven and has served as a member of its Board of Directors since May 2015.
Dr. Majeti served in various positions at Stanford University, including as a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Chief of the Division of Hematology since September 2018, as an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, since November 2015, and as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, from 2009 to November 2015.
He received an A.B. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University, a Ph.D. and an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco and completed a residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Majeti completed a Fellowship in Hematology at Stanford University.
Dr. Mohanlal has more than 20 years of global experience in strategic drug development at big pharma, and biotech start-ups, including GlaxoWellcome (GSK), Pharmacia (Pfizer), Vertex,Interleukin Genetics, Syntium, Novartis, and AstraZeneca. His expertise includes drug development in all Phases (preclinical and 1, 2, 3, 4 clinical, post-marketing), regulatory filings and maintaining drugs on the market.
Dr. Mohanlal played a crucial role in bringing five drugs to market and was deeply involved in the development of 15 marketed drugs, including Wellferon, Atovaquone, Lamuvidine, Zomig, Advexin, Abilify IM Depot, Zometa, Femara, Aredia, Proleukin, Cardioxane and Exjade. Most recently, Dr. Mohanlal was the Clinical Head of Established Oncology Products for Novartis, where he managed all clinical and regulatory maintenance work for the division, which represented total annual revenue of approximately $2 billion. He also developed immuno-oncology development programs based on checkpoint inhibitor combination therapy at AstraZeneca. Prior to this, Dr. Mohanlal held positions with Interleukin Genetics as Chief Medical Officer and Vertex Pharmaceuticals as Medical Director. Dr. Mohanlal has also obtained extensive licensing and deal-making experience at Syntium Inc.
Dr. Mohanlal earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in Experimental CV Pharmacology, both from the University of Leiden, The Netherlands, as well as his MBA from the American Intercontinental University in Illinois, with post-graduate business training at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Dr. Majeti is an investor, biotech company advisor, and executive with more than twenty years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. She carried out diverse roles with increasing responsibilities in both biotech and large multinational companies, encompassing cross-functional experiences in R&D, business development, supplier management, and outsourcing in the biopharmaceutical industry. Most recently she was the Head of Global Collaborations and General Manager, China of Erasca, a NASDAQ traded company, managing global collaboration and overseeing CROs to increase productivity and minimize costs. Prior to that, she was Global Category Leader for Roche External Alliance, Senior Director of Business Development for BioDuro, and Senior Scientist at Amgen.
Dr. Majetic is the past president and currently serving on the board of directors of the Chinese-American Biopharmaceutical Society (CABS), a 3000+ member non-profit organization focused on building a stronger community among biopharmaceutical professionals in the US and China. She is also a member of the BayHelix Group, a non-profit professional organization of business leaders with a mission to shape the growth of the life sciences and healthcare industry globally with a strong presence in China and the US.
Her Ph.D. degree in Molecular Genetics was from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, US, and obtained her postdoctoral training at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of the University of California, San Francisco. She also earned an M.B.A. degree from the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, graduating as a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society. She completed her undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at Fudan University in China.
Jeffrey Vacirca, MD, FACP is a board-certified hematologist and oncologist and serves as CEO and Chairman of the Board of New York Cancer & Blood Specialists. Dr. Vacirca is the immediate past President of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) and is Medical Director for International Oncology Network (ION) at AmerisourceBergen and for Oncology Network Development at Mt. Sinai Health Network. Dr. Vacirca serves on the Board of Directors of OneOncology, an oncologist-led company providing oncologists with innovative tools to keep cancer care in the hands of the providers. He serves on the Board of Directors of the American Red Cross of Greater New York and is Chairman of the Board of Directors of New York Cancer Foundation. Dr. Vacirca is also Co-founder & former Vice Chairman of Odonate Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ODT), and a Director & Chair of the Compensation Committee of Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SPPI).
Dr. Vacirca received his undergraduate degree from the University at Albany and his medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine along with his fellowships in hematology and medical oncology at Stony Brook University Hospital. In his final year of training, he was named chief fellow.
Christine Ying Zhao, MBA has served on our board since October 13, 2016.
Since 2016, Ms. Zhao has been a Managing Partner of Yuanming Capital, a VC/PE fund focused on cross-border investment and acquisition opportunities between the U.S. and China, particularly in the healthcare industry. Previously Ms. Zhao served as the Group Chief Financial Officer of BEST Logistics Technology (China) Co., Ltd. Prior to this, Ms. Zhao served as a Managing Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and as an Executive Director at JPMorgan, where she held senior positions (including regional CFO and COO) in global corporate and investment banking units. Ms. Zhao has worked for a number of corporations in various roles including strategy and corporate venture investing at American Express in New York, London and Singapore, investment banking at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong and corporate development at FedEx Corporation in the U.S. She brings to the board unique management experience as she has managed teams across four continents. Ms. Zhao currently serves as aboard member of the Chinese Finance Association, a non-profit organization with over 6,000 members worldwide.
A Chartered Financial Analyst, or CFA, Ms. Zhao holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics with distinction from Fudan University in Shanghai, China.
Yanbin Xie, M.D. has served on our board since May 1, 2016.
Dr. Xie has had a long career in drug development research. From 1997 to January 1, 2018, Dr. Xie was the General Manager of ICON Clinical Research (Beijing No. 2) Co., Limited, formerly BeijingWits Medical Consulting Ltd., a provider of outsourced development services to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries. At ICON, Dr. Xie was responsible for coordinating strategic goals and development, training management teams and overseeing regulatory compliance. Dr. Xie founded BeijingWits, the first Chinese joint venture CRO, in 1997 with the goal of bringing international standards for clinical trials to China. Dr. Xie continues to hold a directorship at BeijingWits Science & Technology Co. Ltd., which she has held since 1995. Since 2011, Dr. Xie has also served as a director of Med-Sonics Corp., a company focused on the development of ultrasonic devices.
Dr. Xie received her M.D. from Shanxi Medical University, in Taiyuan, China, specializing in clinical medicine.
Mr. Sihai Xu has been an accomplished financial executive for almost thirty years in China. His most recent role since 2014 is CFO and board member of BOJI Health Investment Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Prior engagements include CFO of Henan Plastic Surgery Hospital, CFO of Shanghai BOJI Hospital Investment Management Co., Ltd., CFO of Henan Zhiyi Investment Management Co., Ltd., and Director of Finance of Luoyang Chundu Group. As a financial advisor and strategic investor, Mr. Xu has participated in pre-IPO, IPO, and major asset restructuring for dozens of public companies in China and Hong Kong, such as Henan Taloph Pharmaceutical Stock Co., Ltd. (~$533 M market cap), and Henan Lingrui Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (~$1.10 B market cap), Xinxiang Chemical Fiber Co. Ltd. (~$832 M market cap), Central China Land Media Co. Ltd. (~$1.13 B market cap), and China Molybdenum Co., Ltd. (~$17.2 B market cap).
Mr. Xu received his MBA degree from Renmin University in China. His bachelor’s degree is from Henan University of Economics and Law in China, with a major in Financial Accounting. He is experienced with China GAAP.
Mr. Delaney brings more than 25 years of global product strategy and launch experience to his role leading commercial organizations. Currently he serves as the Chief Commercial Officer of Constellation Pharma starting in January 2021. Constellation was recently acquired by MorphoSys for $1.4B.
Prior to joining Constellation, Mr. Delaney was the Chief Commercial Officer at Immunomedics, where he led the buildout of the marketing, sales, market access and commercial operations teams. He was instrumental in successfully launching Trodelvy, the first TROP-2 directed antibody-drug conjugate for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. Immunomedics was acquired by Gilead Sciences for $21B in September 2020.
Previously, he served as Vice President of U.S. Hematology-Oncology at Celgene Corporation. Prior to joining Celgene, he held various commercial roles at both Novartis Oncology and Genentech, where he led several successful product launches for blockbuster brands.
He earned an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York Univesity and a B.A. in biology from Rutgers University.
Lan Huang, Ph.D. is our Co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and has been a member of the board of directors since November 2014.
Dr. Huang brings over 20 years of entrepreneurial experience in the Chinese and United States biotechnology industries. In 2010, Dr. Huang founded Wanchun Biotech, the former holding company of our U.S. subsidiary. In 2007, Dr. Huang co-founded Wuxi MTLH Biotechnology Co. Ltd, where she served as CEO in 2010 and continues to hold a directorship. The rights related to the development and marketing of the peptide drug in China, which drug Dr. Huang designed while at Wuxi MTLH Biotechnology Co. Ltd, were sold to Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group in 2010. Additionally, in 2008, Dr. Huang co-founded Paramax International Inc., a CRO that conducts clinical trials for global biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. Paramax International Inc. was acquired by ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. in 2009. Dr. Huang was trained at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 1998 to 2002, where her research in cancer signaling pathways involving P53 degradation was published in Science. Her translational research in cancer signaling pathways involving RAS was published in two Nature papers. She has invented and holds patents for a number of biotech products for oncology and dermatology indications.
Dr. Huang received her B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Lawrence University, where she served as a trustee from 2012 to 2015. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley, where she won the international-level Women’s Opportunity Award given by Soroptimist International. She also studied at Fudan University in Shanghai, China.
Patrick Fabbio, MBA, has served on our board since January 2, 2018.
Mr. Fabbio is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Rafael Holdings, Inc. Mr. Fabbio has more than 25 years of financial, operational and transactional leadership experience in both publicly-traded and privately-held life science and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining Rafael Holdings, Mr. Fabbio was Chief Financial Officer of WindMIL Therapeutics Inc. Previously he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., electroCore Medical, LLC; Vice President of Finance at NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Vice President of Finance, Innovation and Growth at Catalent Pharma Solutions Inc.; and Chief Financial Officer at Ikano Therapeutics. His other prior financial positions include roles at Sanofi, UniPath Diagnostics, BioMatrix and Coopers & Lybrand.
He received his B.B.A. in accounting at Pace University and MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Matthew Kirkby, M.A. has served on our board since October 13, 2016.
Mr. Kirkby brings over 20 years of banking experience to our board. He has held senior management positions in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. From 2015 to 2016 Mr. Kirkby served as Head of Corporate Banking Asia Pacific for HSBC in Hong Kong. From 2012 to 2015 Mr. Kirkby was the CEO North Asia and Co-Head of Investment Banking for CIMB in Hong Kong. He served as Managing Director, Global Head of ECM and Corporate Finance from 2008 to 2010 and Managing Director, Head of Global Banking Asia Pacific from 2010 to 2012 at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Between 1999 and 2007 Mr. Kirkby held various positions at ABN AMRO. He is currently a director or adviser to a number of privately held companies.
He received his M.A. in jurisprudence at Pembroke College, University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Majeti is an investor, biotech company advisor, and executive with more than twenty years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. She carried out diverse roles with increasing responsibilities in both biotech and large multinational companies, encompassing cross-functional experiences in R&D, business development, supplier management, and outsourcing in the biopharmaceutical industry. Most recently she was the Head of Global Collaborations and General Manager, China of Erasca, a NASDAQ traded company, managing global collaboration and overseeing CROs to increase productivity and minimize costs. Prior to that, she was Global Category Leader for Roche External Alliance, Senior Director of Business Development for BioDuro, and Senior Scientist at Amgen.
Dr. Majetic is the past president and currently serving on the board of directors of the Chinese-American Biopharmaceutical Society (CABS), a 3000+ member non-profit organization focused on building a stronger community among biopharmaceutical professionals in the US and China. She is also a member of the BayHelix Group, a non-profit professional organization of business leaders with a mission to shape the growth of the life sciences and healthcare industry globally with a strong presence in China and the US.
Her Ph.D. degree in Molecular Genetics was from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, US, and obtained her postdoctoral training at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of the University of California, San Francisco. She also earned an M.B.A. degree from the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, graduating as a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society. She completed her undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at Fudan University in China.
Dr. Mohanlal has more than 20 years of global experience in strategic drug development at big pharma, and biotech start-ups, including GlaxoWellcome (GSK), Pharmacia (Pfizer), Vertex,Interleukin Genetics, Syntium, Novartis, and AstraZeneca. His expertise includes drug development in all Phases (preclinical and 1, 2, 3, 4 clinical, post-marketing), regulatory filings and maintaining drugs on the market.
Dr. Mohanlal played a crucial role in bringing five drugs to market and was deeply involved in the development of 15 marketed drugs, including Wellferon, Atovaquone, Lamuvidine, Zomig, Advexin, Abilify IM Depot, Zometa, Femara, Aredia, Proleukin, Cardioxane and Exjade. Most recently, Dr. Mohanlal was the Clinical Head of Established Oncology Products for Novartis, where he managed all clinical and regulatory maintenance work for the division, which represented total annual revenue of approximately $2 billion. He also developed immuno-oncology development programs based on checkpoint inhibitor combination therapy at AstraZeneca. Prior to this, Dr. Mohanlal held positions with Interleukin Genetics as Chief Medical Officer and Vertex Pharmaceuticals as Medical Director. Dr. Mohanlal has also obtained extensive licensing and deal-making experience at Syntium Inc.
Dr. Mohanlal earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in Experimental CV Pharmacology, both from the University of Leiden, The Netherlands, as well as his MBA from the American Intercontinental University in Illinois, with post-graduate business training at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Yanbin Xie, M.D. has served on our board since May 1, 2016.
Dr. Xie has had a long career in drug development research. From 1997 to January 1, 2018, Dr. Xie was the General Manager of ICON Clinical Research (Beijing No. 2) Co., Limited, formerly BeijingWits Medical Consulting Ltd., a provider of outsourced development services to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries. At ICON, Dr. Xie was responsible for coordinating strategic goals and development, training management teams and overseeing regulatory compliance. Dr. Xie founded BeijingWits, the first Chinese joint venture CRO, in 1997 with the goal of bringing international standards for clinical trials to China. Dr. Xie continues to hold a directorship at BeijingWits Science & Technology Co. Ltd., which she has held since 1995. Since 2011, Dr. Xie has also served as a director of Med-Sonics Corp., a company focused on the development of ultrasonic devices.
Dr. Xie received her M.D. from Shanxi Medical University, in Taiyuan, China, specializing in clinical medicine.
Mr. Sihai Xu has been an accomplished financial executive for almost thirty years in China. His most recent role since 2014 is CFO and board member of BOJI Health Investment Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Prior engagements include CFO of Henan Plastic Surgery Hospital, CFO of Shanghai BOJI Hospital Investment Management Co., Ltd., CFO of Henan Zhiyi Investment Management Co., Ltd., and Director of Finance of Luoyang Chundu Group. As a financial advisor and strategic investor, Mr. Xu has participated in pre-IPO, IPO, and major asset restructuring for dozens of public companies in China and Hong Kong, such as Henan Taloph Pharmaceutical Stock Co., Ltd. (~$533 M market cap), and Henan Lingrui Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (~$1.10 B market cap), Xinxiang Chemical Fiber Co. Ltd. (~$832 M market cap), Central China Land Media Co. Ltd. (~$1.13 B market cap), and China Molybdenum Co., Ltd. (~$17.2 B market cap).
Mr. Xu received his MBA degree from Renmin University in China. His bachelor’s degree is from Henan University of Economics and Law in China, with a major in Financial Accounting. He is experienced with China GAAP.
Christine Ying Zhao, MBA has served on our board since October 13, 2016.
Since 2016, Ms. Zhao has been a Managing Partner of Yuanming Capital, a VC/PE fund focused on cross-border investment and acquisition opportunities between the U.S. and China, particularly in the healthcare industry. Previously Ms. Zhao served as the Group Chief Financial Officer of BEST Logistics Technology (China) Co., Ltd. Prior to this, Ms. Zhao served as a Managing Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and as an Executive Director at JPMorgan, where she held senior positions (including regional CFO and COO) in global corporate and investment banking units. Ms. Zhao has worked for a number of corporations in various roles including strategy and corporate venture investing at American Express in New York, London and Singapore, investment banking at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong and corporate development at FedEx Corporation in the U.S. She brings to the board unique management experience as she has managed teams across four continents. Ms. Zhao currently serves as aboard member of the Chinese Finance Association, a non-profit organization with over 6,000 members worldwide.
A Chartered Financial Analyst, or CFA, Ms. Zhao holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics with distinction from Fudan University in Shanghai, China.