Mireille Gingras, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Gingras is a seasoned entrepreneur, scientist and consultant with wide-ranging experience in drug discovery, in and out-licensing programs, pre-clinical research design and academic partnering programs for top pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including Organon, Cypress Bioscience, Phenomix, and GeminX. Prior to founding HUYA, Gingras founded and served as Chief Operating Officer of MIR3, Inc., a software company that developed advanced, rules-based, on-line treatment programs for neuro-addictive diseases. Dr.Gingras has made significant contributions to the study of complex addictive diseases, and has led research and drug development efforts in the areas of neuroactive steroids, neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Gingras comes from a multi-cultural background, and is fluent in French, Dutch, English and Spanish. She received a PhD from Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, completed post-doctoral fellowships at Bordeaux University and Scripps Research Institute and holds a bachelor’s degree from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.
Michael Newman, PhD, Executive Vice President, Oncology
Dr. Newman leads the development of HBI-8000 and all of HUYA’s other cancer-targeting compounds. Prior to joining HUYA, Dr. Newman was most recently Chief Scientific Officer at Dihedron Corp. Prior to Dihedron, he served as the Vice President of Biology for Ontogen Corp., where he managed drug discovery programs in oncology and metabolic diseases. Before joining Ontogen, Dr. Newman was Executive Director of Oncology and Head of Cancer Biology in the US for Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Newman holds a PhD in Cell and Development Biology from Harvard Medical School and completed Post-Doctoral training at Cornell University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).
Robert Gray, PhD, Senior Vice President, Business Development
Dr. Gray is responsible for out-licensing and alliance development. Prior to joining HUYA, he was Vice President Global Licensing for Schering Plough. He has had 15 years of global business development experience working for Organon Biosciences, Hoechst, and American Cyanamid. Dr. Gray has a B.S. and M.S. from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in Botany. He was a Donald F. Jones Post-doctoral fellow in natural products chemistry at the University of Texas. His business education was through extensive courses at the University of Virginia, Darden Business School and short courses at Northwestern and Harvard University.
Jan Tuttleman, PhD, MBA Vice President of Marketing
Dr. Tuttleman leads HUYA’s marketing initiatives. Prior to joining HUYA, Dr. Tuttleman served as a business development and licensing consultant for Progenetor, Inc. a start up cardiovascular stem cell company. She has been an angel investor in early-stage life science technology companies in San Diego for the last 12 years. Dr. Tuttleman currently sits on the board of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research. Dr. Tuttleman received her PhD in Microbiology from the University of Pennsylvania and completed post-doctoral training at the University of California San Francisco. She received her MBA from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).Rady School of Management and holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Boston University.
Ben Ni, PhD, Head of Therapeutics China
Dr. Ni has more than 14 years of pharmaceutical and biotech drug research and development. His experience includes successfully transitioning compounds from early discovery to investigational new drug (IND) and new drug application (NDA) phases and clinical drug development. Dr. Ni was previously Chair of the Action Group, Eli Lilly Global Management, the Vice President and Head of Biology at A JV Chiron-Singapore, and most recently, the General Manager of Clinical Development for Covance, China. Dr. Ni holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Toronto, a master’s degree in Molecular Biology from the Beijing Academy of Sciences and bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
Que Liu, MD, PhD, Director of Translational Medicine
Dr. Liu has more than ten years of experience in pharmacology and toxicology, and is an expert in the basic science of cardiovascular physiology and related safety pharmacology and regulatory submission. He has demonstrated unequaled proficiency in transitioning projects from animal models to human trials. Dr. Liu was recently the cardiovascular group leader and senior scientist at Amylin Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, he was an in vivo pharmacologist with Cytokinetics Inc. Dr. Liu received his medical degree from Anhui Medical University in China and holds a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Alberta, Canada.
Gary T. Elliott, RPh, PharmD, PhD, Product Development
Dr. Elliott leads HUYA’s cardiovascular drug development planning team. Before joining HUYA, Dr. Elliott was the former Vice President, Product Development for Salmedix, an oncology drug development company acquired by Cephalon. Dr. Elliott previously served as Director and later as Senior Director, Product Development at Corixa Corporation, a biotechnology company focused on vaccine development and small molecules. Dr. Elliott received a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences and PharmD in Clinical Pharmacy from the University of Florida in Gainesville, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Albany College of Pharmacy, Union University.
Harry Yang, PhD, Director of China Portfolio
Dr. Yang is a renowned expert in the field of design and application of biochip technologies and products with more than 18 years of combined education, industry and management experience in the US and China. Most recently, Dr. Yang served as Director of the National Center for Biochip Technology in Shanghai. Previously, Dr. Yang was a research scientist at IGEN followed by positions as executive manager for a series of start-up biotechnology companies including Genometrix, Nanogen, Gene Logic, and MetriGenix, Inc. Dr. Yang received his PhD from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Austin.
Dongxu Qiu, PhD, MBA, Director of China Portfolio
Before joining HUYA, Dr. Qiu spent more than 15 years with four biotech companies, one venture capital firm and one CRO in senior management positions. Dr. Qiu was senior scientist and manager with Biomira, an Associate Director of Production and as the Head of Scientific Operation, Arius Research. Most recently, Dr Qiu worked as a consultant for Wex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Interim Vice President, Operations) to oversee two of Wex’s subsidiaries in Hong Kong and China and for Beijing Joinn Pharmaceutical Center (Interim CEO) to restructure the company to enable it to compete internationally. Dr. Qiu has a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from Peking University and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business of the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
Wen Chen, MS, MBA, Director of China Portfolio
Mr. Chen has comprehensive hands-on experience managing and operating both start-ups and established ventures in China. Prior to joining HUYA, he oversaw business and clinical development activities at Shanghai Huayi Bio-Lab, a state-owned biotech company. Mr. Chen worked for Amgen as an associate and Beth Israel Hospital, affiliate of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Chen holds an MBA from Durham University in the UK, a master’s degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Purdue University in Indiana.
Ning Li, PhD, Associate for Portfolio Projects U.S.
Before joining HUYA, Dr. Li worked as a group leader and senior scientist at Novasite Pharmaceuticals Inc, a biotechnology company focusing on therapies targeting neurological and metabolic diseases. At Novasite, he was awarded two SBIR grants from the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Mental Health as the principal investigator. Dr. Li received a BS in Biology from the University of Science and Technology of China, a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston and completed post-doctoral training at University of Utah.
