Speaker Bios

The following speakers are presenting at SEED Final Competition and Award Ceremony. (See the detailed agenda.)  Return to Speakers page.

Speaker Bios:

Nancy T. Chang, PhD - Chairman & Senior Managing Director, OrbiMed Advisors Asia

Nancy T. Chang, PhD is currently Chairman and Sr. Managing Director for Asia at OrbiMed Advisors, a health care Investment firm since 2007. Previously, Dr. Chang served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Tanox, Inc., until it was sold in 2007. Dr. Chang co-founded Tanox, a public company created to address asthma, allergy, inflammation and diseases affecting the human immune system. From 1986 to 1992, Dr. Chang was an Associate Professor at Baylor College of Medicine in the Division of Molecular Virology. Between 1981 and 1986, Dr. Chang was employed by Centocor, Inc., serving as the Director of Research, Molecular Biology Group. Dr. Chang serves on the Boards of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank in Houston and BioHouston, Project Hope and the Board of Visitors of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Chang also serves on the Boards of Charles River Laboratories and a number of private biotechnology companies. Dr. Chang received a PhD in biological chemistry from Harvard University.

Joseph S. McCracken, DVM - Head of Pharma Partnering Asia, Roche Global Pharma Partnering

Joseph McCracken is currently the Asia Regional Head for Roche Pharma Partnering, and General Manager, Roche Pharma Japan. In this role Dr. McCracken is responsible for Roche’s pharmaceutical partnering activities throughout Asia, and he is currently based in Tokyo, Japan. Prior to joining the Roche Pharma Partnering organization, Dr. McCracken held the position of Vice President, Business Development at Genentech for more than 10 years. At Genentech Joe was responsible for all business development activities at the Company, including the identification and negotiation of collaboration and licensing agreements with academic institutions, biotechnology companies and pharmaceutical companies throughout the world. Dr. McCracken returned to Genentech in 2000 after a seven-year absence, during which he held positions as President of Technology Licensing and Alliances at Aventis, and Vice President of Worldwide Business and Technology Development at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer S.A. During his earlier time with Genentech, Dr. McCracken served in many capacities, culminating in positions as Director of Business Development and Representative Director of Genentech Ltd., Genentech’s wholly owned subsidiary in Japan. McCracken has more than 25 years of experience in technical, business development and market development roles with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology, a Master of Science in Pharmacology and a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from The Ohio State University.

Rajesh Parekh, PhD - Director, Head of Asia Healthcare Practice, McKinsey & Company 

Dr. Rajesh (Raj) Parekh, a Director in the Shanghai Office of McKinsey & Company is the leader of McKinsey’s Asia healthcare practice. Since moving to Shanghai in 2005, he has focused his efforts primarily on serving pharmaceutical and medical device clients across Asia on growth strategy, R&D strategy, M&A, and business unit strategy related issues. Some of his recent experiences in include:

• Help a leading global pharmaceutical company develop strategy and plans for significant expansion of clinical development activities in Asia
• Helped a global top 3 Pharmaceutical company develop perspective on healthcare provider and financing system evolution in China, and implement innovative financing related ideas to turbo charge growth
• Developed a growth strategy for a global hospital equipment company across China/Korea/India, including assessment of R&D offshoring opportunity and strategy for partnerships with hospitals
• Helped define the 5-year China growth strategy for a global leader in medical devices – with particular focus on expansion of product portfolio and physician education initiatives.

Dr. Parekh holds a doctorate in chemical engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with focus on biochemical engineering (research thesis on production of biopharmaceuticals in genetically engineered yeast) and a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from University of California at San Diego. 

Greg B. Scott - President and Founder, ChinaBio^® LLC

Mr. Scott has helped launch over thirty life science startups in the U.S. and China as a founder, investor and advisor. He founded the ChinaBio^® LLC in January 2007 to help fund and mentor early stage life science companies in China, and provide consulting and research services to pharma and biotech companies with business interests in China. Mr. Scott is also the president and co-founder of Life Science Angels, an angel investment group that has funded 30 biotechnology and medical device companies since 2005, and executive editor of ChinaBio^® Today. He is also a strategic adviser to ChinaSF, an initiative of the Mayor of San Francisco to connect China and San Francisco business interests. He previously held senior executive positions at Price Waterhouse, Capgemini and MCI, and was co-founder of a 200-person consulting firm. Mr. Scott attended University of Missouri, where he studied mathematics, microbiology and computer science.