Enhancing Collaborations Across Borders and Beyond Boundaries

Lan Hu has over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and 10 years in academic research. She brings a wide range of experience, including academic research, drug discovery and development, portfolio and project management, commercial initiatives, and corporate business development. Early in her career, Lan conducted academic and drug discovery research in several disease areas including oncology, diabetes, and respiratory disease. Thereafter, she has held various positions with increasing responsibility in multiple functional areas at OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 

She led the OSI/Pfizer-Anaderm collaboration (as Director of Cosmeceutical Discovery), managed licensing and strategic alliances for novel drug targets, technologies, and agents (as Director of Strategic Planning & External Opportunities), and provided strategic input to OSI oncology portfolio/pipeline and business development projects (as Senior Director of Project and Portfolio Management). In her continuous roles overseeing corporate & business development (as Senior Director of Business Development), Lan was involved in formulating the business development strategy for OSI Oncology. She drove the process of scientific evaluation, financial valuation, deal terms construction, and contract negotiation for in-licensing/acquisition and out-licensing of oncology products. Lan led a variety of efforts in the establishment of numerous collaborations with academic research institutes, biotech companies and multinational pharmaceutical companies for drug discovery technologies, biomarker and diagnostic products, and development of combination therapies. Her international experiences include execution of transactions with companies in Europe and China. Lan holds a Certified Licensing Professional (CPTM) designation granted by the Licensing Executive Society.

Prior to her industrial career, Lan was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. She obtained a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at The Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor of Science in Analytical Chemistry at Lanzhou University, China. Lan came to the United States as one of the first class CUSBEA students (China-U.S. Biochemistry Examination and Application) in 1982.

Weizhong Cai has over 25 years of experience in drug discovery and drug development in the biopharmaceutical industry. He held various positions with increasing responsibilities, including VP for Drug Development in the U.S. He was responsible for overseeing preclinical drug development, IND filing, and clinical studies.  He led 7 clinical trials in Phases 1-3. He was Principal Investigator of numerous NIH SBIR grants. He has a broad knowledge base in multiple disease areas. He has a great combination of strategic thinking, analytical insight, and execution capabilities. He is also a registered patent agent in the U.S. Prior to his pharmaceutical industry career, Weizhong was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. He obtained a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology at The Pennsylvania State University, and a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology at Xiamen University, China. He came to the United States as one of the first class CUSBEA (China-U.S. Biochemistry Examination and Application) students in 1982.