Zai Lab Limited announced the promotion of Yajing Chen, age 55, to Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective July 7, 2023. In this role, Dr. Chen will serve as the Company’s principal financial officer and principal accounting officer. Dr. Chen, currently Zai Lab’s Deputy CFO based in Cambridge, MA, has been supporting the Company’s finance function since joining in September 2021.

She is a seasoned finance executive with more than 20 years of experience in the life sciences industry as well as a Ph.D. trained scientist. She succeeds Billy Cho, who will be stepping down from his role and will be pursuing a significant opportunity in private equity. Dr. Chen has served as the Company’s Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Financial Officer since September 2021, helping to oversee finance, planning and forecasting, accounting, tax, treasury, and procurement matters.

She joined the Company from AstraZeneca where she held various roles of increasing responsibility from 2006 to 2021, including Chief Financial Officer for the U.S. Oncology Business Unit from 2019 to 2021 and Finance Controller of the Global Oncology Business Unit from 2016 to 2019. Dr. Chen earned a Ph.D. in Microbiology from New York University and an MBA from Columbia University. Also on July 6, 2023, the company announced that Dr. Chen will be succeeding William Cho, who is stepping down from his role as Chief Financial Officer, effective July 7, 2023.