The Leadership Team
Steve Yang, Ph.D.
Co-CEO, Head of RSD, Head of WuXi Testing
Formerly Vice President and Head of Asia and Emerging Markets iMed at AstraZeneca, previous roles including Vice President and Head of research and development (R&D) Asia at Pfizer. Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of California, San Francisco.
Lan Li, M.S.
Vice President and Global Head of Bioanalytical Services
Lan Li joined WuXi AppTec in 2018, as Vice President and Global Head of Bioanalytical Services for the Laboratory Testing division. Ms. Li has more than 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in the U.S. Prior to joining WuXi AppTec, Ms. Li held multiple leadership positions at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, where she played a variety of critical roles in the discovery and development of Alexion’s drug products. Having authored many peer-reviewed articles that have been published in top scientific journals, Ms. Li has made significant contributions to the market approval and label expansion of biotherapeutics. Ms. Li received her Master of Science from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Hui Xu
Vice President of Operations
Hui Xu has over 20 years’ experience in operations and management for Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) facilities. As Vice President of Operations, she is fully responsible for the internal operations process and cross-function coordination with headquarters. Prior to joining WuXi AppTec in 2008, Hui worked in a Chinese government laboratory for 17 years. Hui has extensive experience in toxicology and drug safety evaluations in China. Under her leadership, the team successfully passed a series of regulatory audits including U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) GLP inspections, AAALAC (Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care) inspections, internal Quality Assurance (QA) audits and sponsor animal welfare audits. Hui actively participated in the development of the NMPA toxicology guidelines and the most recent revision of the NMPA GLP regulatory policy.
Bill Harrison
Vice President & Head of Toxicology
Bill Harrison has over 30 years’ experience in the contract research organization industry with a strong record of growth. Prior to joining WuXi AppTec, he was founder and CEO of VIDA Sciences, a company serving contract research organizations focusing on performance improvement. Earlier, Bill was President and COO of MPI Research, one of the largest preclinical providers in the world, where he led the company through a substantial growth period. Prior to MPI, Bill was Director of Regulatory Affairs and Operations at Pharmaco-LSR, now a part of Envigo. Bill is a former President of the US Society of Quality Assurance (SQA) and currently serves on the Board for the American Life Sciences Innovation Council. He earned a B.S. degree in biomedical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and has been an invited lecturer in North America, Japan, China and Australia.
Ed Amat
Vice President of International Sales & Marketing
Ed Amat has over 27 years of successful performance in senior sales leadership, sales, marketing, public relations and client services in the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, Ed worked for MPI Research as Senior Director of Sales for North America and Europe, leading to Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing. At MPI, Ed led the commercial team, which sustained top-line YoY sales increase above company and industry rates. During his seven years at MPI, he also served on the executive leadership team supporting corporate decision making, direction and P&L management. Prior to MPI, Ed held pharmaceutical commercial functions at Pfizer and legacy companies, having been recognized with multiple sales and leadership awards. Ed is a former principal owner of a diagnostic medical testing company and recently served as a commercial officer with a drug manufacturing software company.
Liang Shen, Ph.D.
Vice President & Head of DMPK
Dr. Liang Shen has over 17 years’ experience in Drug Metabolism & Pharmacokinetics, Toxicology, Clinical Pharmacology, and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. Dr. Shen has published or co-authored over 50 research articles, led or participated in the translation of 3 books including “ADME-Enabling Technologies in Drug Design and Development” into Chinese (Science Press, Beijing, 2020). His rich experience in drug discovery, Pre-Clinical Candidate (PCC) profiling and Investigational New Drug (IND) submission has successfully supported multiple pipelines in the fields of Oncology, Immuno-Oncology, Immunology, Metabolic diseases, Infectious diseases, Central Nervous System (CNS) & Cardiovascular diseases to proof-of-concept at clinical stage. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Georgia.