Our Leadership
Dr. Xianzheng (Jerry) Zhou, PhD, MD
Founder/CSO, Chairman of the Board
Dr. Zhou has 30+ years of academic research experience and 7+ years of biotech startup experience in Immuno-Oncology. He was a Professor at the University of Minnesota and New York Medical College where his group pioneered in engineering human CAR-T cells using the nonviral Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon system. Dr. Zhou received his PhD in Immunology at the Karolinska Institute, MD from Jiangxi Medical College of Nanchang University, MS from Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and completed his postdoctoral training at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Zhou is the inventor of two NKT cell therapy patents that are the cornerstone of our pipeline.
Ms. Emmie Fan, MBA, MS
Co-Founder/CEO
Ms. Fan brings more than 25 years of biopharmaceutical experience ranging from drug discovery research, clinical development to commercialization. Prior to ImmunoKite, Ms. Fan was the Chief Business Officer at Avotres Inc., a clinical stage biotech focused on cell therapy for autoimmune diseases, where she led the operations in clinical development, investor and public relations, and business development for 5 years. An expert in new product commercialization and lifecycle strategy, Ms. Fan previously worked in global and US marketing with increased responsibilities for several pharmaceutical companies including Hoffmann-La Roche, Novartis, Merck, and AbbVie. Ms. Fan obtained her MBA in Finance and Marketing from New York University, MS in Molecular Biology from York University, and BS in Biochemistry from Fudan University.
