The Leadership Team

A pharmaceutical industry leader recognized for building R&D and service capabilities, delivering research and early development portfolios of drug candidates, and establishing R&D partnerships in the US, Europe, China and other Asian and emerging markets. Before joining WuXi AppTec, Dr. Yang was Vice President and Head of Asia and Emerging Markets iMed at AstraZeneca, and served as Vice President and Head of Asia R&D at Pfizer and as Executive Director and head of Pfizer’s global R&D strategic management group. Dr. Yang received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of California, San Francisco.

Since joining WuXi AppTec, Dr. Xuanjia Peng has successful track records in leading business and operation units spanning drug discovery hit generation, chemistry catalog, chemistry service operation, and medicinal chemistry service. Dr. Peng received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Lanzhou University.

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.

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.

Dr. Zhang brings over 20 years of experience in toxicology and a solid professional background in nonclinical research. He has accumulated research and practical expertise across multiple areas including toxicology and pharmacology. Dr. Zhang is well-versed in the guidelines and regulatory requirements for nonclinical safety assessments of drugs issued by the US FDA, OECD, CDE, and ICH, and he has played a key role in advancing the nonclinical safety evaluation and submission of several important drugs. Prior to joining WuXi AppTec, Dr. Zhang held important positions at the US FDA, pharmaceutical companies, and related industries. He possesses rich experience in the non-clinical safety evaluation and regulatory review and approval of innovative drugs, as well as extensive practical expertise in cross-functional collaboration and team management.

Dr. Zhang obtained a Ph.D. in Toxicology from Oklahoma State University U.S. and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from China Agricultural University.

Dr. Sharon Tong has about 30 years’ experience in the fields of bioanalytical and drug metabolism at both pharmaceutical industry and contract research organization. She has a strong record of managing high efficiency operation teams and GLP facility, establishing state-of-art new technology platforms, and delivering drug candidates to support from early discovery through IND-enabling to late-stage clinical development cycle. Prior to joining WuXi AppTec, she held multiple scientific and management positions at Merck Research Laboratories. She has published or co-authored more than 70 scientific research articles for drug discovery and development. Dr. Tong received her Ph.D. at University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed her post-Doctoral work at Cornell University.