Chris Liang, Ph.D. Chris is a world-renowned drug hunter with 30 years of experience in drug design and development. After receiving his Ph.D. degree from Princeton University, he served as Director of Medicinal Chemistry in small biotech (Sugen) and big pharma (Pharmacia/Pfizer), and Scripps Florida. As the chief scientific officer, he founded Xcovery in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2006, and pioneered the virtual drug discovery model. His major accomplishments include: principle inventor of Sunitinib which was approved world-wide in 2006 and had annual sales of >$1 billion; inventor of Ensartinib which was approved in China in 2020; inventor of Vorolanib which was approved in China in 2023; inventor of TLL-018, the first highly potent and selective dual TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor, and other compounds in Highlightll pipeline. 

Dr. Junmin “Jay” Huang is the Vice President of CMC-Quality.  He has more than 15 years of experience in drug discovery and development with expertise in chemistry, manufacturing, CMC/quality controls and regulatory affairs.  Prior to joining Highlightll, he worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University and Mississippi State University, followed with drug research and development in pharmaceutical industries at Synta, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Xcovery, and Zenshine Pharmaceuticals with increasing responsibilities from scientist to VP. Over the years, he has successfully filed 2 NDAs, managed 10 products in US FDA and EU EMA post-approvals, and more than 30 IND projects. Dr. Huang received his PhD in organic chemistry from Nankai University, and MBA of Pharmaceutical Management from Rutgers Business School.

Dr. Tang has near 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development, expertise in biology, pharmacology and biomarker studies. She has been a key member in the pre-clinical and clinical development of a number of programs in oncology or autoimmune diseases. Prior to joining Highlightll, she was the VP of research at ACEA Pharmaceutical. Dr. Tang received her PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and worked as post-doctoral fellow at U. T. Southwestern Medical Center.

Vance has over 20 years of experience in clinical development and has successfully led two registrational studies in US/EU. Before joining Highlightll (USA) Pharma, Vance was the Vice President of Clinical Operations at Xcovery Holdings, Inc. where he led the ensartinib global Phase 3 registrational trial. He was Project director at INC Research where he successfully managed clinical trials of Idelalisib from Phase 1 to US FDA approval.

Yong Liu has 20 years of experience in clinical research, has built clinical operation team from scratch, and has successfully completed the registrational trials of 4 products. Prior to joining Highlightll, Mr. Liu was the medical director at CNBG . Before that, he served at Betta Pharma for 12 years as director of clinical operations and was a key clinical team member that brought icotinib and ensartinib to approval. Mr. Liu received his bachelor degree from Wuhan University.

Ullrich is an accomplished internist, pharmacologist and clinical pharmacologist with over thirty years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry including large pharmaceutical and small biotech companies. Principal investigator in phase 1 studies, attending physician and basic researcher in academic settings and the VA. Experienced in design, implementation, and analysis of clinical development programs in the US and Europe from phase 1 - 3. Creative in translational research, as well as preclinical and clinical development of drugs/biologicals in major disease areas including oncology, immunology, and neurology. Leading roles as author of over 40 INDs, 3 BLA/NDAs and interactions/presentations with the FDA.