OUR TEAM

One vision, one mission, one team

Our Leadership

Zhou Lihan

Co-founder &
Chief Executive Officer

Zou Ruiyang

Co-founder &
Chief Technology Officer

Isaac Ho

Chief Investment Officer

Choo Beng Lor

Chief Financial Officer

Francine Wong

Director, Human Resource

David Capes

SVP, Global Head of Innovation

Teo Cher Hwa

SVP, Health Innovation Delivery & Chief of Staff

Cheng He

VP, Research & Development

Cheong Jit Kong

Head,
External Innovation

Zhao Pan

VP, Product

Tang Yew Chung

AVP, Scientific &
Medical Affairs

Jeremiah Decosta

VP, Manufacturing &
Regulatory Affairs

Zhou Qiumei

VP, Manufacturing
& Regulatory Affairs,
MiRXES China

Larbi Gallagher

VP, Strategy &
Growth Operations

Ray Ong

VP, Commercial Operations

Guy Afseth

Head,
Business Development,
MiRXES USA

Yoong Li-Foong

Assistant Country Manager
& Representative Director,
MiRXES Japan

Our Advisors

Our scientific advisory board (SAB) provides external scientific review of our research and development activities and strategy.

The MiRXES SAB is chaired by MiRXES Co-founder and Chief Scientific Advisor Professor Too Heng-Phon.

Prof. Too Heng-Phon

PhD
• Associate Professor of Biochemistry, National University of Singapore

• Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore

• Co-founder & Chief Scientific Advisor, MiRXES

Prof. Frank Slack

PhD
• Shields Warren Mallinckrodt Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

• Director, Harvard Medical School Initiative for RNA Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

• Co-discoverer of the second known microRNA and the first human microRNA

Prof. Chng Wee Joo

MB ChB, PhD, MRCP, DipRCPath, MRCPath
• Director, National University Cancer Institute, National University Health System

• Group Director of Research, National University Health System

• Deputy Director & Senior Principal Investigator, Cancer Science Institute, Singapore

• Vice Dean of Research & Provost’s Chair Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

• Chief Medical Advisor, MiRXES

Prof. Lam Kong Peng

PhD
• Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, National University of Singapore

• Executive Director, Singapore Immunology Network, A*STAR

Prof. Takahiro Ochiya

PhD
• Professor of Molecular and Cellular Medicine, Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo Medical University

• Chief Scientific Officer, Theoria Science

• President, Japanese Society for Extracellular Vesicles

Prof. Yeoh Khay Guan

MBBS, MMed, FRCP (London), FRCP (Glasg), FAMS

• Irene Tan Liang Kheng Professor in Medicine and Oncology, National University of Singapore

• Senior Consultant, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, National University Hospital

• Lead Principal Investigator, Singapore Gastric Cancer Consortium

• Chairman, National Colorectal Cancer Screening Committee, Health Promotion Board, Ministry of Health, Singapore.

• Chief Executive, National University Health System

• Senior Vice President (Health Affairs), National University of Singapore

Dr Holger Heyn

PhD

•  Leader, Single Cell Genomics Team, Spanish National Centre for Genomic Analysis (CNAG-CRG), Barcelona, Spain

• Scientific Co-founder, Omniscope

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Zhou Lihan

Ph.D.

Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer

Zhou Lihan is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of MiRXES. Lihan led MiRXES’ growth from a 3-man start-up in Singapore to a leader in RNA technology and disease early detection with operations globally.

Prior to founding MiRXES, Lihan led a research team at the Bioprocessing Technology Institute, A*STAR to develop a novel microRNA qPCR assay platform for biomarker and therapeutic target discovery. In 2015, Lihan was recognized by the MIT Technology Review as a member of the Innovators Under 35.

Lihan obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. Lihan has authored and co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed publications and several patent applications.

Zou Ruiyang

Ph.D.

Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer

Zou Ruiyang is Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of MiRXES. Ruiyang is responsible for MiRXES’s technology and diagnostic test development, and also oversees MiRXES’s China operations.

Prior to founding MiRXES, he was the Head of Bioinformatics at the MicroRNA Signature Identification Center, A*STAR. Ruiyang has a passion for science and is continuously innovating to discover technology that can be developed to practical applications that can be delivered to the public.

Ruiyang has a PhD in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering from Singapore-MIT Alliance (NUS-MIT), Singapore. He also successfully completed his dual degree in 2007 where he attained Bachelor of Science, Molecular Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, P. R. China, and Bachelor of Engineering, Molecular Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, P. R. China. Ruiyang has co-authored more than 10 publications and has eight patents and applications.

Isaac Ho

Chief Investment Officer

Isaac Ho is Chief Investment Officer of MiRXES where he oversees corporate development, investor relations as well as builds strategic partnerships with key healthcare players and financial institutions.

Prior to MiRXES, Isaac founded Singapore Health, and subsequently VentureCraft Group, a Singapore government accredited co-investment partner and incubator in the healthcare and biomedical sciences sector. He is a veteran in entrepreneurship, investment, and business management. Under his leadership, Venturecraft Group was appointed as an accelerator under SPRING Singapore’s Sector Specific Accelerator Program for Biomedical Sciences.

Isaac graduated from Deakin University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce (Marketing and Management).

Choo Beng Lor

Chief Financial Officer

Choo Beng Lor is the Chief Financial Officer of MiRXES and is responsible for matters relating to finance, internal controls, compliance, corporate management and investor relations.

He was previously with Zheneng Jinjiang Environment Holding Company Limited where he was the Financial Controller overseeing matters relating to financial management and reporting, compliance with post-listing obligations. Prior to that, Beng Lor spent 11 years being a CFO for companies including Cima NanoTech Pte Ltd, Sound Global Ltd and Sino Chemical Holdings Pte Ltd.

Beng Lor graduated with a Bachelor of Accountancy from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is a Chartered Accountant of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.

Francine Wong

Director, Human Resource

Francine Wong is Director, Human Resource at MiRXES where she is responsible for developing and executing HR strategy in support of the business plan and strategic direction of the organization, in the areas of talent management, organizational development, performance & rewards, and learning & development.

She was previously the APAC Regional HR Director at A. Menarini Asia Pacific where she oversaw the HR function for 13 markets across the Asia Pacific region. Francine has diverse industry experience in logistics, engineering and banking, with bulk of her experience in healthcare, where she was the HR Leader, ASEAN at GE Healthcare and Director – Strategic HR Business Partner for Asia Growth Markets at ResMed. At ResMed, she was part of the Global HR Leadership Team and helped to grow the manufacturing hub fourfold and supported its expansion.

Francine graduated with a Bachelor of Business degree majoring in Human Resource Consulting from Nanyang Technological University and holds an MBA from the University of Manchester.

David Capes

Ph.D.

Global Head, Innovation

David Capes is Head of Global Innovation at MiRXES where he is responsible for the transformation of MiRXES into a global innovation enterprise.

David has over 31 years of extensive biomedical technology industry experience across all facets of general management and strategy, research and development, innovation, organic and inorganic opportunity identification and development, quality management, regulatory affairs management, manufacturing and sales. He was previously the Vice President for R&D for Greater Asia in Becton-Dickinson (BD) where he led the strategic innovation team and was instrumental in establishing the idea portfolio management for their new product development (NPD) portfolio. He was phenomenal in leading overachievement of the revenue target of innovation to NPD project approvals by five-fold. Prior to BD, he held senior management roles in Pathway Biomed and Rockeby Biomed.

David holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacy from Curtin University, and has authored and co-authored more than 54 publications and has two U.S. patents.

Teo Cher Hwa

Senior Vice President, Health Innovation Delivery Chief of Staff

Teo Cher Hwa is the Senior Vice President (SVP), Health Innovation Delivery and Chief of Staff at MiRXES. In his role as SVP, Health Innovation Delivery, Cher Hwa will help to embed MiRXES into the Singapore healthcare system through downstream market access efforts by driving adoption of MiRXES’s products.

Additionally as Chief of Staff, he will assist MiRXES’s Co-founder and CEO, Dr. Zhou Lihan in overseeing strategic initiatives from development to successful execution as well as working closely with functional heads in decision-making, program management & initiative implementation.

Cher Hwa has over 20 years of experience in grant funding, technology transfer, product development, and commercializing innovative technologies in telecommunications and biomedical devices. He was previously the Director of National Health Innovation Centre Singapore and was also their founding member. Prior to that, Cher Hwa was Vice President of the Communications & Healthcare Cluster at A*Star’s A*ccelerate Technologies where he oversaw technology transfer activities such as IP management, licensing, industry collaboration and translational funding projects in the MedTech and communications sectors.

Cher Hwa holds a Bachelor of Engineering (First Class Hons) in Electronic Engineering from the University of Sheffield and an MBA from the University of Manchester.

Cheng He

Ph.D.

VP, Research & Development

Cheng He is Vice President, Research & Development at MiRXES where he leads research projects to discover and develop new microRNA biomarkers in tissues, cells and biofluids, as well as productize cell-free microRNA biomarkers into liquid biopsy assay.

Prior to this, Cheng He was a research scientist at Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), A*STAR. Cheng He strives to solve healthcare problems with innovative technologies and has worked on multi-disciplinary fields including the development of nanowire sensors and mRNA clinical assay for cancer prognosis. He is flexible and adaptable with experience ranging from upstream R&D to downstream productization.

Cheng He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering, National University of Singapore and a Masters in Material Science from MIT, as well as a Bachelor in Bioengineering from Nanyang Technological University.

Isaac Ho

Ph.D.

Head, External Innovation

Cheong Jit Kong is the Head of External Innovation at MiRXES and is responsible for the overall external R&D stakeholder engagement in key markets. He also supports MiRXES’ global clinical/scientific studies to generate scientific evidence and gather real-world clinical data. Additionally, Jit Kong serves concurrently as a Principal Investigator, Research Assistant Professor and Director of the NUS ncRNA Core Facility at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

Jit Kong is a recipient of multiple national and international research grants. He has extensive experience in signal transduction cascades in cancer biology, animal models of cancers, anti-cancer drug discovery as well as high-throughput miRNA expression screens.

Jit Kong graduated from a PhD program jointly administered by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Harvard Medical School (HMS), Harvard University (U.S.A), where he was under the guidance of Professors Stephen Hsu I-Hong and Joseph Bonventre. He subsequently trained as a Singapore Millennium Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Prof David Virshup’s laboratory at Duke-NUS Medical School.

Zhao Pan

Ph.D.

VP, Product

Zhao Pan is the Vice President, Product at MiRXES where she leads the overall strategy in MiRXES’s product and service pipelines as well as oversees the product lifecycle management.

Previously, Pan co-founded and was the Chief Commercial Officer of Lucence Diagnostics. Prior to this, she had experience in business development and field application in companies including Vishuo Biomedical and Vela Diagnostics. Pan believes in empowering physicians to improve patient outcome, and is an advocate for precision medicine, genetic testing and disease early detection.

Pan holds a PhD in Molecular and Microbiology from National University of Singapore Graduate School, and has recently obtained her Masters in Medical Genetics from Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Prince of Wales Hospital.

Tang Yew Chung

Ph.D.

AVP, Scientific & Medical Affairs

Tang Yew Chung is Assistant Vice President, Scientific and Medical Affairs at MiRXES where he oversees the strategic direction of clinician and researcher engagement and leads scientific and medical communications and partnerships. Yew Chung also heads our Japan market expansion and partnership efforts.

He has more than 10 years of experience in multi-disciplinary cancer research, including cancer genomics and systems biology, and has published 8 papers. Prior to joining MiRXES, Yew Chung spent nine years studying the functional genomics of breast cancer at Duke-NUS Medical School and was an Editor at Asian Scientist Magazine. He is constantly exploring innovative ways to communicate complex scientific information to the mass audience in a non-technical and engaging way.

Yew Chung has a PhD and MSc in Molecular Engineering of Biological and Chemical Systems from the Singapore-MIT Alliance, and a BEng in Chemical Engineering (Specializing in Biopharmaceutical Engineering) from the National University of Singapore.

Jeremiah Decosta

VP, Manufacturing & Regulatory Affairs

Jeremiah Decosta is Vice President, Manufacturing and Regulatory Affairs at MiRXES, where he leads the manufacturing strategy and oversees the management of quality control, quality assurance, supply chain and regulatory affairs.

Prior to this, Jeremiah served as the Production Director at APTA Biosciences, and was also Head of Operations at Vela Diagnostics. He has worked in MNCs and start-ups, and is both a leader and team player with management and hands-on experience.

Jeremiah holds a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science from the University of Bradford, UK.

Zhou Qiumei

VP, Manufacturing & Regulatory Affairs, MiRXES China

Zhou Qiumei is the Vice President, Manufacturing & Regulatory Affairs at MiRXES China. Qiumei oversees the overall manufacturing and production capabilities, as well as manages the regulatory affairs, quality control and quality assurance in MiRXES China.

She has management experience of more than 10 years having held positions in various biotechnology and medical device companies such as Anrei Medical Holding Company, Hangzhou Singclean Medical Products Co. Ltd., Hangzhou Medzone Biotech Company and Hangzhou NeuroPeptide Biological Science and Technology Incorporation Ltd. Qiumei is well-versed in the construction of Good Manufacturing Practices certified facility, establishment of quality management system, production process of medical devices, as well as familiar with the laws and regulations regarding medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic products in both China and Europe.

Qiumei holds a Master of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University.

Larbi Gallagher

VP, Strategy & Growth Operations

Larbi Gallagher is Vice President, Strategy and Growth Operations at MiRXES and oversees MiRXES’s U.S. business development operations.

Larbi has over 16 years of global cross-commercial leadership experience in biotech/life sciences where he worked in established companies including Illumina, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc and Djinndustries in the U.S., China, Japan and Australia. Of the 16 years, he spent 10 years managing international teams in Asia Pacific. Larbi has a clear history of efficiency with organizational design and business execution, as well as a strong reputation for ethical behavior in China and respect and collaboration while in Japan. He is committed to helping his teams make breakthroughs in their projects or removing obstacles to their success.

Larbi holds a Master of Science in Plant Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Florida, and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Horticulture, University of Florida.

Ray Ong

Ph.D.

VP, Commercial Operations

Ray Ong is the Vice President, Commercial Operations at MiRXES where he drives the overall strategy for business development and sales of MiRXES’s products and services.

Before joining MiRXES, Ray was the Oncology Business Development Manager at ThermoFisher Scientific, India Pacific, where he supported the Clinical Sequencing Division efforts in the Oncology Segment with active engagement with pharma, testing labs and key oncologists. In 2019, he collaborated with the local lung cancer network to successfully establish a multiple pharma co-payment model for lung cancer patients in Malaysia. Ray has previously served as a product manager with Bio-Rad Laboratories and was involved in its entry into the molecular diagnostics space with EGFR T790M testing for Osimertinib.

Ray has a PhD in Neurobiology under the Department of Physiology with the School of Medicine at National University of Singapore.

Guy Afseth

Head, Business Development, MiRXES USA

Guy Afseth is Head, Business Development at MiRXES USA. Guy is responsible for establishing key partnerships with leaders in biopharmaceutical, molecular diagnostics and academic institutions and supporting the incorporation of MiXRES technology into miRNA-based assay development of molecular diagnostics offering high value for patient care.

He has spent over 25 years in the Life Sciences and Molecular Diagnostics industries in technical, sales, product management and business development roles. Prior to MiRXES, Guy has held positions in business development, portfolio and product management and marketing in companies including Codex DNA, Roche Molecular Solutions, Gilson Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific and Abbott Molecular. He is a passionate, customer-focused leader in life sciences and molecular diagnostics industries with broad technical and commercial abilities, and institutional knowledge gained from dominant diagnostic players.

Guy has a Master of Arts in Marketing Management from DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois and a Master of Science in Molecular Microbiology from Washington State University, Pullman, Washington.

Yoong Li-Foong

Assistant Country Manager and Representative Director, MiRXES Japan

Yoong Li-Foong is the Assistant Country Manager and Representative Director of MiRXES Japan. Li-Foong led the setting up of MiRXES subsidiary in Tokyo, Japan, where she now heads the business development and market expansion, as well as overseeing the overall operations.

She has more than 13 years of research experience in USA and Japan, including genetics, development biology and cellular signaling, and has published eight papers. Prior to joining MiRXES, Li-Foong has accumulated more than 10 years of research experience in Japan’s largest national research institute, RIKEN, where she has also received the prestigious international fellowship award from Human Frontier Science Program. She is passionate about bringing MiRXES’s innovative disease early detection solutions, from lab to user, so that more people can be benefited from a better and earlier diagnosis.

Li-Foong has a PhD in Biochemistry from the National University of Singapore.