Raj Kannan has over 30 years of experience leading and developing global business franchises and building companies. He has effectively led and grown organizations and supported multiple successful launches across therapeutic areas in the U.S. and globally.
Raj Kannan previously was the CEO of Aerie Pharmaceuticals. He led the successful merger of Aerie Pharmaceuticals to Alcon, Inc. where the all cash transaction was consummated in mid November 2022. He also served as an independent director of Amryt Pharmaceuticals till it was acquired by Chiesi in April of 2023.
Prior to joining Aerie, Mr. Kannan was Chief Executive Officer and President of Chiasma, Inc., where he led the organization through the approval and the launch of the first oral therapy in over a decade for patients with acromegaly and subsequently through the acquisition by Amryt Pharma Plc. Before that, Mr. Kannan was Chief Commercial Officer at Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, and prior to Kiniksa, he served as the Global Head of the Neurology and Immunology business franchise at Merck KGaA, where he led and transformed the largest franchise into a growth franchise with $2 billion in annual revenues through significant strategic shifts in investment to support new product introductions and through recalibration of pipeline investments. Before that, Mr. Kannan spent 10 years at Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH in the U.S., Canada, and in Germany, including as Global Marketing Head of the Cardiovascular Franchise, where he was responsible for more than $3.5 billion in annual revenues.
Dr. Andrew Zhu leads the Company’s global R&D organization, focusing on pipeline advancement and clinical development capability building in the U.S. and China.
Dr. Zhu is an internationally renowned oncologist. He was Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and served as Director of Liver Cancer Research at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center. In collaboration with his colleagues, Dr. Zhu established and led the multidisciplinary liver cancer clinic at the MGH and created one of the most productive clinical and translational research programs in hepatobiliary cancers in the U.S. Prior to joining I-Mab, Dr. Zhu was Director of Jiahui International Cancer Center of the Jiahui International Hospital in Shanghai, China and subsequently served as Chief Scientific Officer of Jiahui Health.
Dr. Zhu has an excellent track record in clinical development of innovative oncology drugs. He has led early-stage development of numerous targeted therapy and immuno-oncology drugs for liver cancer and several pivotal studies that led to regulatory approval by the FDA, including the development of pembrolizumab (KEYNOTE-224) and ramucirumab (REACH-2) for advanced liver cancer, and the successful development of the first IDH-1 inhibitor (Ivosidenib) for cholangiocarcinoma. Dr. Zhu also served on the Steering Committee of several phase III trials in the development of combination immunotherapies for liver cancer, including atezolizumab combined with bevacizumab. He has also served on the committee for the establishment of many global HCC Clinical Trial Design and Practice Guidelines, including the NCCN Guidelines for Hepatobiliary Cancers, AASLD Guidelines for the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, and ASCO Guidelines on Systemic Therapy for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
Dr. Zhu received his medical degree from Peking University Health Science Center and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. Following his postdoctoral research training at Harvard Medical School. he completed his clinical training in internal medicine at Yale New Heaven Hospital, Yale School of Medicine, and a fellowship in Hematology-Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Zhu has published more than 300 scientific papers and reviews in top international journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, JAMA, Nature Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology and Cancer Discovery.
Mr. Yeh is an industry veteran with over 25 years of experience spanning senior leadership positions with biopharmaceutical companies and prominent Wall Street firms. Before joining I-Mab, Mr. Yeh was Chief Financial Officer and Head of Strategic Operations at Abbisko Therapeutics (HKEX: 2256), overseeing financial transactions, strategic planning, financial & accounting reports, risk management and fundraising. He also held a series of leadership positions including Chief Financial Officer of CStone Pharmaceuticals (HKEX: 2616), Managing Director and Business Unit Leader of Asia Pacific healthcare equity research at Goldman Sachs (Asia), and Head of China and regional healthcare research team at Citigroup Capital Markets Asia. Mr. Yeh also had robust experience in equity research covering the U.S. biotechnology sector at major firms including Citigroup and Bank of America Securities. Before his career on Wall Street, Mr. Yeh worked in the global strategic marketing group at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and conducted drug discovery research at Amgen. Mr. Yeh earned his M.B.A. from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University and Master of Science in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto and Ontario Cancer Institute.
The Global Business Development team is led by Weimin Tang, PhD, who is responsible for the company’s overall business development strategy. Dr. Tang has a strong track record of successful global pharmaceutical business development. During his 15-year tenure in pharma business development, he worked at Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sanofi, and Johnson & Johnson. He also was Acting CEO of Hengrui Therapeutics, a US branch of Hengrui Pharmaceuticals. With broad experience in global and China marketplaces, the Business Development team works closely with other units within I-Mab to identify external partnering opportunities and a competitive pipeline. I-Mab remains actively engaged in in-licensing and out-licensing activities.
Before joining I-Mab, Dr. Hayslip was Vice President of Clinical Development at Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR). Dr. Hayslip also led development activities for multiple therapies while at AbbVie Oncology. He also comes with a depth of experience on lemzoparlimab (TJC4), having assembled and led the AbbVie cross-functional team to complete setup for patient enrollment for the global partnership between I-Mab and AbbVie on lemzoparlimab. Prior to joining AbbVie Oncology, Dr. Hayslip was an accomplished researcher and physician at the University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center, where he led numerous cancer research studies with a primary focus in lymphoma and leukemia. He also served as the Chief for Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplant and as Director of Clinical Research and Data Management at the Markey Cancer Center. Dr. Hayslip received his medical degree from Northeast Ohio Medical University and a master’s degree in Clinical Research from the Medical University of South Carolina. Following his residency in internal medicine, Dr. Hayslip completed his fellowship in Hematology-Oncology at the Medical University of South Carolina leading to dual board certifications in both Hematology and Medical Oncology. Dr. Hayslip holds multiple U.S. and international patents and has published dozens of scientific papers and reviews in renowned journals including Lancet Haematology, Clinical Cancer Research, Leukemia Research, Blood, and Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The Corporate Communications team is led by Gigi, who oversees all communications across I-Mab, partnering with the executive team to communicate the Company's strategic narrative, R&D innovation, external collaborations and more.
Prior to joining I-Mab, Gigi served as Amgen’s Japan Asia Pacific regional head of Corporate Affairs, where she led communications efforts including executive communications, media relations, employee engagement, crisis communications and philanthropy to build the Amgen brand across 14 markets in the Asia Pacific region. Before joining Amgen, Feng held a series of communications leadership roles at Sanofi, where she positioned the company as a scientific partner of choice. Gigi also led the strategic communications group at an international communications and public affairs consultancy in Shanghai with a focus on the healthcare and consumer sectors.
Gigi is a graduate of Cornell University with a B.A. in Government and Asian Studies. She also completed an executive education program in business strategy at the Harvard Business School.
As the Chief Legal Officer, Richard Li leads the Legal team in charge of I-Mab’s legal affairs, including capital markets, intellectual property, clinical operations, corporate transactions, and U.S. operations, and provides critical legal guidance and strategic solutions to support I-Mab’s business growth.
Richard is a seasoned life sciences attorney with more than 12 years of experience. Prior to joining I-Mab, Richard worked at Covington & Burling LLP, a top U.S. law firm, with his last position being an of counsel, leading the firm's China life sciences transaction practice. Prior to that, Richard also served as the head of legal of 6 Dimensions Capital, a leading life sciences venture capital firm, in charge of all the legal affairs relating to the fund’s global investments. Earlier in his career life, he worked as a corporate attorney in the Shanghai office of Hogan Lovells International LLP, a leading international law firm. Richard received his bachelor's degree in law in 2006 and master's degree in international law in 2008 from Sun Yat-sen University, and his LL.M. degree from Columbia Law School in 2013. Mr. Li has been admitted to the New York State bar and passed the PRC bar exam. He is also a Certified Licensing Professional (CLP)
Prior to joining I-Mab, Jerry worked in Neuro-inflammation DPU at GlaxoSmithKline (China) R&D Center and led multiple early discovery programs in autoimmune and neuroinflammatory diseases. Jerry has more than 15 years of research experience in basic immunology. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biology from Fudan University and his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Institute of Health Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The operations function includes Information Technology, Procurement, Government Affairs, Facilities and General Administration. The team is managed by Ms. Min Yin, who has extensive experience in the Life Science industry with various roles covering finance, operations, commercial, internal control/audit and compliance. Her previous employment included Smith & Nephew, SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Novartis Oncology and Boston Scientific. She received her MBA from Rutgers, the University of New Jersey and her accounting degree from University of Nebraska. She is a member of AICPA.
Claire Xu, MD, PhD, joined I-Mab in January 2018 as the U.S. site head, leading the establishment of I-Mab’s Maryland site and the continual growth of I-Mab’s U.S. clinical team. Dr. Xu oversees the U.S. medical/clinical research, clinical operation, regulatory affairs, clinical biomarkers and project management for I-Mab’s global portfolios. Her team also collaborates closely with I-Mab’s teams in China on global development strategy and execution.
Prior to joining I-Mab, Dr. Xu was the associate director of clinical pharmacology at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, where she was responsible for designing and overseeing multiple phase 1/2 studies of different therapeutic areas, including hematology/oncology. Dr. Xu received her PhD in clinical pharmacology from Indiana University School of Medicine and her Bachelor of Medicine degree from Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, China.