Zhenghin Yao

Dr. Yao is the Chief Executive Officer of Viela Bio. Formerly, he was the Senior Vice President, R&D and Head of Respiratory, Inflammation & Autoimmunity at MedImmune. Dr. Yao was also Senior Vice President, Head of Immuno-Oncology Franchise, AstraZeneca. He is an accomplished executive and scientist with more than 20 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. During his tenure at MedImmune, he played key leadership roles in the development and approval of three novel biologics for autoimmune, respiratory, and immune-oncology indications respectively. Prior to joining MedImmune, Dr. Yao led the project team leaders (PTL) group for immunology, neurosciences, virology and metabolism for Genentech, and prior to that served as Vice President of Research and Corporate Officer for Tanox before it was acquired by Genentech. Earlier in his career Dr. Yao held key roles at Aventis and Amgen. Dr. Yao has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and holds over 20 patents and patent applications.