Speakers

Samantha Du, Ph.D., founded Zai Lab in 2014 and has been its Director, CEO, and Chairperson of the Board since its inception.

Prior to founding Zai Lab, Dr. Du spent two years at Sequoia Capital China where she led four healthcare investments and served on the boards.

From 2001 to 2011, Dr. Du co-founded Hutchison MediPharma and Hutchison China MediTech and served as their Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer, respectively, since their inception. Dr. Du began her research career with Pfizer in the United States from 1994 till 2001 after receiving her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Cincinnati.

Rafael G. Amado, M.D., joined Zai Lab in December 2022 as President, Head of Global Oncology Research and Development, leading and overseeing the company’s global oncology research and development activities.

Prior to joining Zai Lab, Dr. Amado was the Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer for Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. Before joining Allogene, Dr. Amado served as President of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer of Adaptimmune, LLC from August 2018 to July 2019 and as Chief Medical Officer from March 2015 to July 2018. In these roles, he was responsible for directing discovery and clinical development strategy as well as execution activities for several gene-engineered cell therapies, chairing the R&D leadership team and providing medical guidance for pipeline prioritization. Prior to Adaptimmune, Dr. Amado held various roles of increasing responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline from 2008 to 2015, most recently as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Oncology Research and Development, and at Amgen Inc. from 2003 to 2008, where he was last Executive Director of Clinical Research and Global Development in Therapeutic Oncology.

Dr. Amado received an M.D. from the University of Seville School of Medicine in Seville, Spain and completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center and a fellowship in Hematology / Oncology at UCLA.

Harald Reinhart, M.D., joined Zai Lab in May 2017 and currently serves as President, Head of Global Development, Neuroscience, Autoimmune and Infectious Diseases.

He is Adjunct Clinical Professor of infectious diseases at Yale School of Medicine. Prior to joining Zai Lab, Dr. Reinhart worked at Shionogi US as Head of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs, directing a broad portfolio of antibiotics, diabetes, allergy and pain medications. He guided several compounds through regulatory meetings, and obtained approval for ospemifene. Between 2003 and 2011, he held senior roles at Novartis where he oversaw successful filings of SNDAs and NDAs for Coartem, Famvir, Sebivo, and Cubicin, managed clinical development groups for infectious disease, immunity, transplantation, and renal disease. He supervised the transitioning of research projects into clinical development. In the years before, he was International Clinical Project Manager in charge of ciprofloxacin and acarbose at Bayer Corp., with several successful SNDAs and approvals.

Dr. Reinhart holds a medical degree from the University of Würzburg in Germany where he trained in anesthesiology. He completed his medical specialty training in the United States with board-certifications in internal medicine and infectious diseases.

William Liang joined Zai Lab in June 2018 as Chief Commercial Officer, President, Greater China.

Prior to joining Zai Lab, William served as Vice President at AstraZeneca heading up the Oncology Business Unit in China. Under his leadership, AstraZeneca built a top performing oncology franchise in China by significantly outgrowing the market with many successful product launches, including setting a new benchmark for the successful market launch of Tagrisso®. During his tenure, Mr. Liang expanded his team from approximately 500 to 2,000 professionals and introduced a patient-centric business model to establish AstraZeneca’s oncology leadership position in China. Prior to AstraZeneca, he was Vice President of Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb in China, where he rebuilt the oncology sales team to achieve substantial sales growth. Previously, he spent over 13 years in senior commercial roles at Roche, where he began his career and ultimately achieved the position of China Business Unit Director of Oncology.

Mr. Liang holds a Medical Degree in Clinical Medicine from Fudan University and an Executive MBA degree from the China Europe International Business School.

Josh Smiley joined Zai Lab in August 2022 and currently serves as President and Chief Operating Officer.

At Zai, Mr. Smiley oversees all aspects of commercial, manufacturing, business development, finance, human resources, information technology, corporate affairs, and strategy.

Prior to joining Zai Lab, Mr. Smiley served as Chief Financial Officer for Eli Lilly and Company. He spent more than 25 years at Lilly, in a variety of positions of increasing responsibility. He served as senior vice president of finance, corporate controller, and treasurer, before being promoted to CFO. His experience at Lilly also included leading U.S. sales and marketing efforts focused on payers and public sector customers, business development, and mergers and acquisitions.

Before Lilly, Mr. Smiley worked in investment banking and consulting. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard University.

Jonathan Wang joined Zai Lab in May 2014 and currently serves as Chief Business Officer.

Prior to joining Zai Lab, Mr. Wang was an investment professional at OrbiMed, where he was responsible for China healthcare investment and portfolio management. From 2005 to 2011, Mr. Wang worked as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in China, where he specialized in pharmaceutical and healthcare engagements, assisting multinational and local companies with their China strategy. Previously, Mr. Wang also gained financial transactional experience at Goldman Sachs Investment Banking.

Mr. Wang holds a Master of Business Administration in healthcare management from Wharton Business School.