Chief Executive Officer

Ping Zhang, M.B.A.

Ping Zhang has over 30 years of experience in manufacturing and operations in Pharmaceutical industry. He served as the Head of Manufacturing at J&J for 14 years and 20 years at Sanofi as head of Industry affair China, responsible for seven plants across China. Ping has full experience on Technic transfer and new product launching at Sanofi China. Ping also serves as the Head of Global Industrial Affairs at Hepalink Biopharma group.

He is the Chairman of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) China and the government counselor of China FDA (NMPA). He is certified with Black Belt of 6 Sigma and Lean Professional. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University.

Chief Operating Officer

Jason Li, Ph.D.

Dr. Jason Li has 35 years academic and industrial experience, including 24 years hands-on and managerial experience in bioprocess design, development, and CGMP manufacturing of therapeutic biologics. Prior to joining Cytovance, he held various senior scientific and technical leadership positions in Wuxi Biologics Inc, NOVAVAX Inc, and Dow Chemical Co. in the US. He obtained his B.S. in China, and received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from University of Poitiers in France. He has published more than 25 scientific articles in international peer reviewed journals and held 13 granted WO/US patents.

Senior Director of Research & Development

Stephanie Wickham, Ph.D.

Dr. Stephanie Wickham has over 12 years’ experience in research and industry cell culture and protein purification. Following graduate work with transfection, fermentation, and purification of proteins from mammalian and microbial hosts, she performed a post-doctoral fellowship in at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center’s Cell Biology department developing small molecule enzyme inhibitors for an enzyme transformed into yeast and purified. Her focus at Cytovance has been process transfer into manufacturing, designing process scale-up processes and documentation, and leading the MST team as they help every client transition from bench- to full-scale clinical supply batches. She received a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and completed a professional education program in fermentation at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Senior Director of Quality

Eric Bell

Eric Bell has 23 years of experience in Quality Assurance and Quality Control management in biologics, pharmaceutical and In vitro diagnostics. As Senior Director of Quality, Eric oversees the Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Validation and Regulatory functions at Cytovance. He joined Cytovance Biologics in 2016, leading the organization through three successful FDA approvals. Prior to Cytovance, Eric was the Director of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at Allergy Laboratories where he was an integral member of the team that received multiple FDA drug product approvals. He also held Quality Control positions at BioMerieux and Organon Teknika. Eric’s focus on quality and compliance initiatives brings continuous improvement to the organization and a broad base of experience. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from The University of Oklahoma.

Chief Financial Officer

David Knauss, M.B.A.

David Knauss possesses over 25 years of experience in finance and accounting within the pharmaceutical industry. As CFO, he currently leads the Finance, HR, and IT functions. David helps support various Hepalink-owned entities, including Scientific Protein Laboratories. He is licensed to practice law in Wisconsin, having obtained his JD degree from University of Wisconsin. In addition, he is a licensed CPA and received his MBA and undergraduate degrees from Marquette University.