The management team at AltheaDx has a proven record of success in clinical diagnostics. Meet our team.
François Ferré, Ph.D.
Dr. Ferré is a co-founder of Althea Technologies, Inc, a San Diego company that provides services and technologies to streamline drug development. He has over twenty years of experience in cancer research and HIV clinical development. Dr. Ferré has held management positions at Cytometrics and The Immune Response Corporation. Dr. Ferré is a leader in gene quantification and biomarker development with over fifteen years of experience in the field. He has published several authoritative reviews on the topic of gene quantification, co-edited a bestseller book on PCR with Dr. Kary Mullis and Dr. Richard Gibbs, and edited a book on the topic of gene quantification. Dr. Ferré received his Ph.D. in Molecular Oncology from the Pasteur Institute in Lille, France and did his post-doctoral training at the University of California-San Diego. Dr. Ferré was the winner of the 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the Life Sciences category.
Wei Li, Ph.D.
Prior to joining WuXi Healthcare Ventures, Dr. Li focused his effort on healthcare and life science investment opportunities at Fidelity Biosciences, Fidelity Growth Partner Asia, and Baird Venture Partners. He also led drug discovery projects and technology licensing due diligence at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company in Boston, MA. During his scientific career, Wei first-authored numerous scientific publications in journals including Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Wei received a B.S., with distinction, in Chemical Physics from University of Science and Technology of China, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Mammalian Genetics from Harvard University, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he was elected Beta Gamma Sigma, with a concentration in Finance, Accounting and Marketing.
David Nikodem, Ph.D.
As a senior representative of Ally Bridge Group (“ABG”), Dr. Nikodem plays an important role in ABG’s biopharmaceutical investments and serves on the boards of several of ABG’s U.S.-based biopharmaceutical companies. Dr. Nikodem has more than 13 years of experience in capital markets and financial analysis of biotechnology and healthcare companies. Prior to joining ABG in 2013, Dr. Nikodem served as Portfolio Manager at Exane Asset Management where he managed a global healthcare fund. He also managed a U.S.-focused healthcare fund as a Director at BNP Paribas in New York on the long/short proprietary trading desk. During his seven years as a Portfolio Manager in the healthcare industry, Dr. Nikodem covered a diversified range of healthcare subsectors for public equities and was involved with numerous private deals. Dr. Nikodem began his Wall Street career as a biotechnology analyst at Orbitex Asset Management in 2001, followed by analyst roles at Acacia Research Investment Corporation and Blumberg Capital Management.
From 1991 to 1999, Dr. Nikodem conducted basic science research at the National Institutes of Health as well as at Georgetown University, where he earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology. From 1999 to 2001, Dr. Nikodem was a patent examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, D.C. Dr. Nikodem holds undergraduate degrees in Chemistry and English Language and Literature from the University of Virginia.
Yuh-geng Tsay, Ph.D.
Dr. Tsay has extensive experience and track record in building successful businesses that were eventually acquired or went public. Prior to his retirement in 2010 from Thermo Fisher Scientific, Dr. Tsay served as Senior Vice President and Group President of the company’s Specialty Diagnostic business with worldwide annual revenue of US $2 billion. He was the Group President of Immunodiagnostics of Fisher Scientific (NYSE: FSH) prior to Fisher’s merger with Thermo Electron in 2006. From 2000 to 2004 he served as Group President of Immunodiagnostic of Apogent, which was acquired by Fisher in 2000. While working for these public companies, he was instrumental in engineering the acquisition of multiple diagnostics companies including Phadia, One Lambda, BRAHMS, Microgenics, Seradyne, Duke Scientifics and Applied Biotech Inc. etc. He was the founder of Diagnostics Reagents Inc., which was acquired by Apogent in 1998. In 1987, he cofounded Yellowstone Diagnostics, which merged with another diagnostic company and became Adeza Biomedical.
Prior to Adeza, he was involved with the establishment and management of several biotech startups and held executive positions with these companies. Dr. Tsay received his B.S. in chemistry from the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Rochester. He received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the University of Rochester (2014), and the Distinguished Alumni Awards from Cheng Kung University (2012). Currently, Dr. Tsay serves as a board member of PEG Bioscience, an early stage pharma company with special emphasis on biosimilar drugs development. He is a Scientific Advisor of Personal Genomics that focused on the development of next generation sequencing (NGC) technology as well as a Limited Partner of Vivo PANDA Fund. He also serves as Executive Chairman of PharmaLegacy, a CRO company located in Shanghai.
John Wu, MBA
Mr. Wu is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of 3W Partners Capital, an investment firm based in Hong Kong. Prior to his time at 3W Partners, Mr. Wu managed a RMB Fund platform, which was one of the earliest RMB-denominated private equity funds managed by a foreign general partner. He is also a Board member at Eye Fund HK, a charity organization dedicated to cataract surgeries and promotion of eye care for needy people who suffer from eye problems.
Mr. Wu has more than 20 years of experience in international investment banking, operations and private equity. He has been actively involved in equity and equity-linked fund raising, capital markets transactions, privatizations, restructuring, M&A and corporate finance across China, South East Asia, and the US.
Mr. Wu has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Finance) (Summa cum Laude) and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics (Magna cum Laude) from Boston University, USA, and a MBA from Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom. He has also attended the HBS OPM Program at Harvard University. He is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, Phi Beta Kappa, and Golden Key National Honor Society in the US.