Zonghai Li, MD, PhD
Co-founder, Chairman of the Board, CEO, CSO

Was appointed as a Director in February 2018, and the CEO and the Chief Scientific Officer in February 2021. He was re-designated as an executive Director in February 2021.

 

Dr. Li has also held positions at CARsgen Therapeutics. He has been a director and the chief executive officer since October 2014, and the chief scientific officer since December 2017.

 

Dr. Li has approximately 20 years of work experience in the biopharmaceutical field. Prior to joining our Group, Dr. Li was a project manager at Guilin Pavay Gene Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. from July 2000 to April 2002. Dr. Li worked at Shanghai Cancer Institute from July 2005 to June 2018 and served as the leader of the biotherapy research team at the State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes of Shanghai Cancer Institute during such period.

 

Dr. Li has dedicated himself to developing innovative treatment for the patients with cancer. One of his early career achievements is the identification of GE11, a peptide ligand of EGFR which has become a widely used unnatural peptide in antitumor study now. He is also the inventor of new technologies such as Hpd3cell, a new phage display technology; FR806, a new safety switch for T cell therapy; CycloCAR technology to increase the antitumor activities of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells. He has a leading role in the research on CAR T cell therapy against solid tumors by publishing the first paper of CAR T cell therapy against GPC3, Claudin18.2 and EGFR/EGFRvIII worldwide. Dr. Li was a professor in Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and a doctoral supervisor at Renji Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

 

Dr. Li obtained his bachelor’s degree in preventive medicine and master’s degree in pathology and pathophysiology from the Central South University, formerly known as the Hunan Medical University, the PRC, in June 1997 and July 2000 respectively. He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in pathogen biology from Fudan University, the PRC, in June 2005.

 

Dr. Li was awarded the Leading Talents of Shanghai City in 2018, the Shanghai Youth Science and Technology Award, and the Shanghai May 1st Labor Medal in 2019.

Huamao Wang, PhD
Co-founder and COO

Was appointed as a Director in September 2018 and the COO in February 2021. He was re-designated as an executive Director in February 2021.

 

Dr. Wang has also held positions at other members of our Group. He has been a director and the chief operating officer of CARsgen Therapeutics since October 2014, the general manager of CARsgen Pharmaceuticals since November 2017 and the general manager of CARsgen Diagnostics since November 2020.

 

Prior to joining our Group, Dr. Wang worked at Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences from July 2009 to January 2011, served as the deputy general manager of Shanghai Ruijin Biotechnology Co., Ltd. from January 2011 to June 2013, and the general manager of YIJIE Biotech (Shanghai) from July 2013 to October 2014.

 

Dr. Wang obtained his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Sichuan University, the PRC, in June 1999. He received his master’s degree and Doctor of Philosophy degree in pathogenic organisms from Fudan University, the PRC, in June 2003 and June 2009, respectively.

*In alphabetical order by last name
Raffaele Baffa, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Baffa has rich experiences in pharmaceutical industry and research institutes, taking various leadership positions in multi-national corporations and biotech companies. Prior to joining CARsgen, Dr. Baffa served as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Research & Development at Ziopharm Oncology (NASDAQ: ZIOP), which was rebranded to Alaunos in January 2022. (NASDAQ: TCRT). Prior to Ziopharm Oncology, Dr. Baffa was Head of Research & Development and Chief Medical Officer in Medisix Therapeutics, a company focused on developing novel immune cell therapies. Dr. Baffa was the Vice President, Therapeutic Area Head of Oncology, Global Clinical Development of Shire Pharmaceuticals, and following the acquisition of the oncology division by Servier Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Baffa served as the Chief Medical Officier of Servier Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Baffa has also held leadership positions at well-known pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer and Sanofi.

 

Dr. Baffa earned an M.D. from University of Padova, School of Medicine and a Ph.D. in biology and molecular pathology from University of Parma in Italy.

Leigh Hsu, PhD, MBA
Senior Vice President, Business Development

Dr. Hsu has over 15 years of work experience in business management and strategic planning in the biotechnology industry. Prior to joining our Group, Dr. Hsu served as director of business development at Acadia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ACAD) and vice president of corporate development and strategy at Lpath, Inc. (merged with Apollo Endosurgery, Inc. in December 2016) between January 2005 and November 2016.

 

Dr. Hsu obtained his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and cell biology and his doctorate degree in molecular pathology from the University of California, San Diego in the United States, in June 1993 and September 1999, respectively. He received his master’s degree in business administration from the University of California, Irvine in the United States, in June 2001.

Jie Jia, PhD, MBA
Vice President, Strategic Alliances and Operations

Dr. Jia has served in CARsgen Therapeutics Corporation, our wholly-owned subsidiary incorporated in the United States since joining our Group, including as the Vice President, Business Development responsible for overseeing the corporate operations of the Group in the United States, leading the strategic alliances and managing CMC operations from December 2016 to July 2017, as the Vice President, Strategic Alliances responsible for overseeing the corporate operations in the United States, leading strategic alliances, managing CMC operations from July 2017 to December 2018, and as the Vice President, Strategic Alliances and Operations responsible for overseeing the corporate operations in the United States, leading strategic alliances, managing CMC operations from January 2019 to present.

 

Dr. Jia obtained his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Sichuan University, the PRC, in July 1999 and his doctorate degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the PRC, in August 2004. He has been a member of The North American Vascular Biology Organization and Sigma Xi since 2006 and 2008, respectively. In 2014, he joined The Nitric Oxide Society as a member. He became a member of American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2016. Dr. Jia joined the American Society of Clinical Oncology as an allied physician and doctoral scientist in 2017. He has been a member of the American Society of Hematology and a full member of the American Society of Quality since 2019.

Hua Jiang, MD, PhD
Vice President, Early Discovery

Dr. Jiang has about 18 years of working experiences in the field of cancer biotherapy. She currently serves as Vice President of Early Discovery of CARsgen, responsible for formulating the strategy of early discovery and the construction of R&D pipeline. Dr. Jiang joined the Company in April 2021 as Senior Director of Immune Cell Research and Development Department, responsible for the research work of Immune Cell Research and Development and Preclinical Pharmacology. Dr. Jiang has contributed significantly to the early research, technology platform development, and innovative products development in CARsgen. Prior to joining the Company, from July 2007 to April 2021, Dr. Jiang worked at Shanghai Cancer Institute, responsible for the research and development of antibody and CAR T cells, as well as the related mechanisms. Dr. Jiang was a professor at Shanghai Cancer Institute and a doctoral supervisor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

 

Dr. Jiang has published more than 20 SCI papers in journals such as Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Clinical Cancer Research, Molecular Therapy, etc. She is the first author to publish the world's first CLDN18.2 CAR T and first EGFR/EGFRvIII CAR T papers and the co-corresponding author to publish the world's first paper on the combination therapy of small molecule and CAR T cells for the treatment of solid tumors.

 

Dr. Jiang earned her Bachelor’s degree in Clinical Medicine from Jining Medical College in 2001. She obtained Master's degree in Pathogen Biology from Shandong University in 2004 and Ph.D. in Pathogen Biology from Fudan University in 2007.

Sylvie Peltier, PharmD, MHL
Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs

Dr. Peltier has extensive global leadership and hands-on experiences in clinical and CMC regulatory affairs across several multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining CARsgen, Dr. Peltier served as Vice President, Head of US Regulatory Affairs at MorphoSys US Inc (NASDAQ: MOR) since 2020, and as Head of Regulatory Affairs at Servier Pharmaceuticals LLC from 2018. Before joining Servier Pharmaceuticals LLC, Dr. Peltier served at Cephalon since 2007, an international biopharmaceutical company which was acquired later by TEVA Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd (NYSE: TEVA), holding various positions from Senior Director, Europe Regulatory Affairs, CNS/Pain and CMC, Senior Director, US Regulatory Affairs, to Senior Director, Clinical Search Evaluation and Due Diligence. Previously, Dr. Peltier worked at Pfizer Regulatory Affairs from 1995.

 

Dr. Peltier earned a Diploma of Pharmacy Doctorate and a Diploma of Graduated Specialized Studies (DESS) in Health Law from University of Paris XI in Paris, France.