Board of Directors

Currently Ling serves as the global Chairman and CEO of ClinChoice, a global full-service CRO with over 1800 clinical research professionals in more than 50 cities and 7 countries around the world. 

Previously, Ling was a partner at the Draper Dragon Venture Group (a member of the Draper Venture Network), focusing on the investment and management of life science and healthcare companies in China and the US.  

Earlier, Ling had spent 12 years in Quintiles (the largest clinical CRO in the world and later merged with IMS Health to form the world leading human data science company called IQVIA), where he served as a global Senior Vice President and the General Manager in Greater China (including China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), to oversee clinical operation, data and consulting service in the region.  

Prior to Quintiles, Ling also served as a management consultant in the Life Science Strategy Group of Ernst & Young in the US, where he advised leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies on mission-critical strategic and operational issues. In addition, Ling held various leadership positions in Business Development and Portfolio Management in some of the world-leading life science companies such as Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline in the US. 

Ling received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Science and Technology of China，his Master of Science degree in biochemistry and Master of Business Administration degree from Indiana University at Bloomington in the US.  Ling also holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Law School of North Carolina Central University and is a licensed attorney in the state of North Carolina in the US. 

Previously, Dr. Zhang was the Head of Clinical Development and Global Safety Assessment at Sigma-Tau Research Inc., Vice President at the Quintiles Transnational Corp., a member of Quintiles Executive Operation Committee, and was also the Chairman of the Board for Quintiles Medical Development (Shanghai) Company Ltd. Before joining Quintiles, Dr. Zhang provided consulting services to many pharmaceutical, medical device, and health insurance companies, such as Eli Lilly and Company, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc., Medtronic, Inc., and CIGNA Health Care.

Over the last 15 years, Dr. Zhang has provided services for the government and academic institutions in China. He is a member of the grant review committee for the National Key Drug Development Fund, jointly managed by the Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST), and the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China (NHFPC). He chaired the BayHelix CFDA working committee and works with the agency on development of technical guidelines. He was a member of the Overseas Expert Committee on New Drug R&D from MOST. He is senior consultant to the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College. He was also a visiting professor at the Harbin Medical University of China, Nankai University, and Science and Technology University of South China. He is currently a senior consultant to the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College. Dr. Zhang was an Executive Director of Sino-American Professional Pharmaceutical Society (SAPA), President (2006–2007) of the Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association-USA (CBA), and a Board Director of BayHelix.

He received his pre-med training from Peking University and MD from Peking Union Medical College in China. He continued his study at the Harvard School of Public Health in the US and received an MPH in Health Policy and Management. He then continued his training at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he obtained his MBA in Health Care Management in 1998 and is working on his PhD dissertation in the field of health economics and finance.

Xin Ke, PhD, is the Chairman and Co-founder of ClinChoice Inc. Dr. Ke has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with a focus on data management and statistical programming.

Since 1992, he has worked for several global pharmaceutical companies, including Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck, as a senior statistical analyst. In 1995, he founded K&L Consulting Services, Inc. (K&L), which provides niche contract research organization (CRO) services to global pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the areas of data management, biostatistics, biostatistical programming, CDISC/SDTM/ADaM standardization and conversion, and medical writing. In 2014, K&L merged with Fountain Medical Development, Ltd. (FMD, China), to become FMD K&L. In 2016, FMD K&L merged with iMEDGlobal, further expanding services and global geographic presence.

Since founding K&L, Dr. Ke has acted as a project team lead for several pharmaceutical companies, supporting 15 US NDA filings. The filings were well accepted by FDA and 11 have been approved for marketing.

Dr. Ke received his PhD from Rutgers University and BS in Applied Mathematics from Tsinghua University, China.

John D. Balian, MD, is the Chief Executive Officer of ClinChoice Inc. In February 2016, he founded the consulting firm MediVista, focusing on development of healthcare and IT companies and transformative technologies. Previously, he was a senior executive at Johnson & Johnson, where he served as Chief Medical Officer of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies, leading Medical, Clinical, Regulatory, Medical Safety, Toxicology, and related functions. In April 2014, Regional R&D was added to his remit and his title became Chief R&D Operations Officer.

Dr. Balian joined Johnson & Johnson from Pfizer Inc, where he was Senior Vice President, Worldwide Safety & Regulatory Operations. He led efforts to capitalize on the immense data streams Pfizer collects to gain new insights into patient needs and find new opportunities to serve them better. He launched and successfully executed a complete transformation of the organization’s structure, practices and strategies to address performance and regulatory challenges facing the company.

In 10 years at Pfizer, Dr. Balian held numerous leadership positions, originally joining as an Associate Director in Drug Safety before soon becoming Vice President and Global Head for Clinical Safety and Risk Management. In 2003, he was appointed VP in Development Operations, leading a multi-functional organization responsible for Pfizer’s sourcing strategies, capacity planning, clinical trials conduct and allocation, patient recruitment, performance measures and business/operational support for all clinical trials.

He also served at Bristol-Myers Squibb, leading the Global Pharmacovigilance & Epidemiology group and a Medical Affairs group focusing on mature brands. Among the many innovative methodologies he introduced was a BMS global operations center for pharmacovigilance in Chennai, India, an industry first.

Previously, Dr. Balian worked for the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, first as a Medical Reviewer for neuropharmacology products, and then as an Associate Director in the Office of Clinical Pharmacology and Biopharmaceutics. Widely published in scientific journals, he is also a published novelist. He earned his B.A. degree from Columbia University and his M.D. degree from Tufts University School of Medicine.

Kevin Xu is currently a Managing Director of Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area (PIA), responsible for private equity investments in Asia (ex-Japan), with a focus on growth and buyout opportunities in pharma, device, diagnostics and healthcare services.

Mr. Xu joined Goldman Sachs in 2010, and previously served as Executive Director for Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Division in China, where he was responsible for M&A as well as capital markets transactions for Chinese and foreign institutions.

Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mr. Xu worked with Basso Capital Management, a Stamford Connecticut based hedge fund. Mr. Xu received his Master of Finance degree from the University of Cambridge in the UK and his B.A. from the University of Maryland in the US.

Gavin G. Xia, Ph.D., is a Venture Partner with Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV). Prior to joining LAV, Gavin was with Navigant Consulting and Monitor Group in healthcare business consulting industry and has served clients in pharmaceutical, medical device, and chemical industries in both US and Asia markets across projects ranging from M&A to market entry strategy to geographic expansion. Prior to consulting, Gavin had over more than 10 years academic and industry research experience in drug discovery and development. Gavin received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from University of Chicago in 2007, and his dual Bachelor’s in Chemistry and Economics from Peking University in 2001.

Mr. Larry Guangxin Li is a founding managing director of DFJ DragonFund China. He has over 20 years of experience in early-stage investments and the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements. He is familiar with global VC operations and mainly focuses on healthcare and Information technology investment. He has successfully invested in MicroPort Medical (HK 0853), Kinetic Medical (China,300326), iKang Healthcare (Nasdaq), ACTS (Nasdaq) , and VTL ( Nasdaq). Other portfolios include Novelbeam,  Donson, EDDA, Vechain and Tykhe, etc.

Mr. Li worked as a vice general manager in the Shanghai ZhangJiang Venture in 2000, founded Shanghai International VC – DingJia Venture in 2004. He was the director of Shanghai JinQiao Hi-Tech Innovation Center from 1993 to 1998.  Dr. Li is the vice chairman of the Shanghai Venture Capital Association and China Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA).

Mr. Li worked as a research fellow in the University of Michigan and received his Ph.D. degree in Applied Mechanics from Shanghai Jiaotong University.