Danong Chen

Dr. Danong Chen is a seasoned executive with over two decades of experience in corporate strategy and product development and commercialization. She was President and Chief Executive Officer of Tanox, Inc., a Houston based, publicly traded biotherapeutic company, which was one of the largest biotech companies in Texas. During her tenure as the CEO and President, Tanox was acquired by Genentech in 2007 in a transaction valued at about $1 billion. Prior to being named President and CEO, she was Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Tanox, responsible for guiding company strategy, evaluating new product opportunities and potential merger and acquisition transactions, and overseeing annual product prioritization and related budgeting process. Dr. Chen joined Tanox as Associate Director of Strategy in 2002 and between 2002 and 2005 she held increasing responsibilities in areas of Strategy, Corporate and Business Development and Project Management. From April 2008 to Aug 2009, Dr. Chen served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Theranostics Health, Inc., a biotech company focused on developing products for personalized treatments. Prior to joining Tanox, Dr. Chen served as a manager in the health-care practice of Arthur D. Little, Inc., the world’s first strategic consulting company with a reputation and emphasis on innovation and technology based/guided strategies. Early in her career, she developed immunoassay-based clinical diagnostics in Shanghai, China and won a bronze medal from the Chinese government for one of the products she developed. As a trained molecular neuroscientist, she has a deep understanding of molecular and cellular interactions as they relate to drug targets and drug candidates in therapeutic product development. Dr. Chen received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX and MBA from Arthur D. Little School of Management in Boston, MA.