Jiazhong Zhang

Dr. Zhang brings more than 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development. Prior to joining Ashvattha, Dr. Zhang served as Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Plexxikon where he led the chemistry efforts that generated six clinical candidates and two approved drugs. He was instrumental in the design and synthesis of Zelboraf®, a first-in-class BRAF inhibitor approved for metastatic melanoma with V600E mutation, and Turalio®, a first-in-class CSF1R inhibitor approved for tenosynovial giant cell tumor. Dr. Zhang holds a Ph.D. from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, and conducted his postdoctoral work at Georgetown University. He has co-authored more than 10 publications and is a co-inventor of over 30 patents.