Our highly skilled and experienced management team possesses extensive knowledge of the markets in which we operate.
Most of our senior management team have experience with leading global pharmaceutical companies and an in-depth understanding of our markets and the requirements of our customers. Almost all members of our senior management team possess a scientific background with a PhD and/or MD in their relevant field. They also regularly contribute to peer-reviewed industry publications and journals as well as present at national and international scientific conferences.
Executive Leadership Team
Song Li, Ph.D.
Dr. Song Li founded Frontage Laboratories in 2001 with the ambition of building a client-focused organization to help solve the most complex drug development challenges. Prior to Frontage, Dr. Li held management positions at Great Valley Pharmaceuticals and Wyeth. During this time, he led numerous projects related to the development of pharmaceutical products.
Dr. Li has authored more than 15 scientific publications spanning a wide range of topics, including chiral separations, drug-protein interactions, pharmacokinetics, and analytical chemistry. Importantly, Dr. Li has been the recipient of numerous awards, most recently Healthcare CEO award from Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the “Realizing the American Dream” award from the Pennsylvania Welcoming Society, and the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award from the AABDC.
Dr. Li earned a doctor of philosophy degree in analytical chemistry from McGill University and a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Zhengzhou University in China.
Abdul Mutlib, Ph.D.
Dr. Abdul Mutlib is the Chief Executive Officer at Frontage Laboratories, Inc. Before this, he was the Global Head of DMPK/Preclinical Services and led operations for these services. Prior to joining Frontage in 2010, he held director-level roles within drug metabolism teams at Wyeth and Pfizer. Earlier in his career, he held scientific positions on the drug metabolism teams at Hoechst-Roussel and DuPont-Merck. With more than 20 years of experience in drug metabolism and analytical chemistry, Dr. Mutlib’s research includes the application of various analytical techniques and stable isotope labeled compounds in elucidating structures of metabolites and metabolic pathways; mass spectrometry; qualitative and quantitative NMR; metabolism-mediated toxicities; reactive metabolites; phase II metabolism; drug-drug interactions; and toxicogenomics. He has published more than sixty papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Mutlib earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and a doctor of philosophy degree in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Sydney in Australia. He completed post-doctoral fellowships from the Universities of Washington and British Columbia.
John Lin, Ph.D.
Dr. John Lin is the President of Frontage Laboratories, Inc. Before this, he served as the Executive Vice President, Bioanalytical and Biologics Services, where he led operations for the company’s global bioanalytical labs. Before joining Frontage, he served as a business leader in AstraZeneca’s global drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) division. Prior to AstraZeneca, Dr. Lin was Laboratory Director for Avantix Laboratories.
With more than 20 years of experience, Dr. Lin’s current research focus is in the area of bioanalytical method development and validation, dry blood spot (DBS) sampling with LC-MS/MS analysis, and biomarker quantification using LC-MS/MS. He has contributed to more than 20 research publications covering the development and validation of LC-MS/MS methods for the determination of small and large molecules in biological matrices, four book chapters, and one technical patent. He is the invited reviewer for several international journals including the Journal of Pharmaceutical Biomedical Analysis (JPBA) and the Journal of Chromatography B (JCB).
Dr. Lin earned a doctor of philosophy degree in analytical chemistry from Dalhousie University in Canada. He received a master’s degree in analytical chemistry from Yunnan University and a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Fuzhou Branch School of Jiangxi Normal College. Dr. Lin completed post-doctoral research in pharmacokinetics and metabolism at the College of Pharmacy and the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the Ohio State University.
Henry Gao
Mr. Henry Gao is Frontage Laboratories’ CFO and President APAC operations. Henry is an accomplished professional with over 25 years of experience in privately held and publicly listed global organizations leading functions including finance, audit, investment, project management, general management, IPO, and M&As.
From 2018 to 2022 Henry was a member of the board of directors of Frontage Holdings Corporation. Henry’s board level and executive leadership has been well recognized in the CRO and the biotech industries in the APAC region and beyond.
Prior to this appointment, since September 2021, Henry was the executive director and CFO of Shanghai Duoning Biotechnology Co., Ltd. From November 2016 to September 2021, he was the board secretary, deputy general manager and CFO at Hangzhou Tigermed Consulting Co., Ltd.
Prior to that and until October 2016, he has held the CFO and board secretary role at Shanghai Xiaoi Robot Technology Corporation Limited. From May 2011 to December 2015, he was the chief financial officer and board secretary of McWong Environmental Technology Corporation Limited.
Before that, Henry has held various positions in Hong Kong Shanghai Alliance Holdings Limited, City North Infrastructure Pty Ltd., Rio Tinto Group, and Felix Resources Ltd. From May 2001 to June 2007, he worked at Foster Wheeler AG in a variety of leadership roles including the China finance manager, chief compliance officer and project control director for Asia. He began his career with PWC Business Consulting in Shanghai, China.
Henry received his bachelor’s degree from Shanghai University of Finance & Economics, China, majoring in international accounting. He is a Certified Public Accountant in China, an internationally accredited Certified Internal Auditor, an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK), a member of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (US & UK) and a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK).
Wentao Zhang, Ph.D.
Dr. Wentao Zhang is the Chief Strategy Officer at Frontage Laboratories. Dr. Zhang joined Frontage in 2021 through the acquisition of Quintara Discovery, a drug discovery service company he founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2012. Before founding Quintara, Dr. Zhang was Senior Director of New Lead Discovery at Exelixis of South San Francisco where he managed key drug discovery platforms and functions that included compound repository, assay development and high-throughput screening, lead optimization, DMPK operations, and safety pharmacology.
Dr. Zhang made significant contributions to over twenty compounds from discovery that advanced to clinical development, including the discovery, in vitro ADME and pharmacological characterizations of two FDA-approved small molecule drugs. Dr. Zhang has been an ad hoc member of the NIH study section on assay development & HTS. He has authored and co-authored discovery data packages (biology) and preclinical DMPK study reports for IND and NDA filings, as well as over thirty scientific publications. Dr. Zhang received his Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University. He has also conducted research in the area of DNA replication as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California-Berkeley.
John Kapeghian, Ph.D.
Dr. John Kapeghian, PhD, DABT is Frontage’s Executive Vice President of Global Safety & Toxicology. John brings over 35 years of experience in global preclinical safety evaluation and development. After working in regulatory and experimental toxicology units at large pharma (Ciba now Novartis) and in contract research (Sierra Biomedical/Charles River), he established his own company, Preclinical Safety Associates, which provides toxicology strategy and regulatory services for over 90 companies worldwide since 2006.
As a subject matter expert and a recognized leader in the Safety and Toxicology space, John has served on the Toxicology Advisory Board of Genzyme Pharmaceuticals and has been a Section Editor at the International Journal of Toxicology for over 20 years. He has over 100 abstracts, presentations, and publications to his credit.
During his tenure in pharma, contract research, and consulting, John helped write preclinical dossiers supporting human safety for regulatory authorities in the US, UK, EU, Canada, India, and Asia. John’s passion for quality in toxicology data evaluation and interpretation led him to form a company in 2008 dedicated to training Study Directors, with additional workshops in clinical pathology and project management. John continues to train Study Directors via courses and workshops at national toxicology meetings, and through his consulting practice, book chapters, and numerous publications.
John received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology/ Toxicology from the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy in Oxford MS and is current with his DABT certification.
Vishal Gupta, Ph.D.
Dr. Vishal Gupta is the Executive Vice President, Global CMC and CDMO Services. Dr. Gupta has extensive industry and private equity experience in a career spanning over 20 years.
Prior to joining Frontage, Vishal was Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President at Mallinckrodt Specialty Generics where he was responsible for Generics and 505(b)(2) R&D including CMC, Clinical Pharmacology, Regulatory Affairs, Project Management, Portfolio Management, and Strategy. He served as Senior Vice President, US R&D at Alvogen; Chief Scientific Officer, SVP and Head of Global R&D at Impax Laboratories, and Chief Scientific Officer, SVP at CorePharma. He also served in positions of increasing responsibility at Pfizer and Mallinckrodt early in his career.
Vishal was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Midwestern College of Pharmacy, Chicago, IL and St. Louis College of Pharmacy, St. Louis, MO. He served the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) in various roles including Chair of Pharmaceutical Technology, and Manufacturing Science and Engineering Sections. He is also a Six Sigma Black Belt.
Vishal holds a PhD in Pharmaceutics from The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, an MBA in Strategy and Finance from Washington University, St. Louis, MO, an MS in Pharmaceutics from Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, India, and a BS in Pharmacy from Amravati University, India.
Dongmei Wang, Ph.D.
With over 27 years of experience in pharmaceutical industry and CRO, Dr. Wang is currently the Executive Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing and Project Management at Frontage Laboratories. In this position, Dongmei is also leading the effort to cross-sell Frontage’s comprehensive drug development services to clients across the globe.
Since she joined Frontage in Feb 2007, Dr. Wang has held several critical leadership roles including overseeing the US and China CMC operations. Previously as the EVP, Global Head of CMC Services, she was responsible for CMC (Chemistry Manufacturing & Control) including analytical services, formulation development, and manufacturing of GLP preclinical batches & GMP clinical trial materials. Under Dongmei’s leadership, the CMC team participated in numerous IND and ANDA programs for multiple clients.
Prior to joining Frontage, Dr. Wang served as the Director of Analytical Chemistry at NovaDel Pharma Inc. in New Jersey where her team contributed to the submission of several NDAs including two oral spray products which were approved by the FDA. Subsequently, Dongmei participated in the development of these two oral spray products including clinical supply manufacturing, CMC sections of 505(b)(2) filings, and technology transfer to commercial manufacturing sites. Prior to NovaDel Pharma, Dr. Wang headed Pharmaceutical Analysis and Control department at Therics Inc. in New Jersey, where she supported numerous 3D printing product development for 510(k) and IND filings.
Dr. Wang earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Iowa State University and performed postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago, Illinois. She received her MS in Chemical Engineering from China Institute of Atomic Energy and a BS degree in Chemistry from Peking University, China. Earlier in her career, Dr. Wang was a lecturer at the Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Science.
Richard Fischetti
Richard Fischetti
Richard Fischetti, Vice President and General Counsel, has extensive experience in corporate law relating to life sciences companies. Prior to joining Frontage, Richard was a Partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of Shearman & Sterling LLP, a multinational law firm headquartered in New York City, where he practiced for over a decade. While at Shearman, Richard led numerous strategic transactions for both public and private companies, including mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, as well as advising on matters related to securities laws, corporate governance and shareholder activism. Much of his experience involved advising various life sciences companies.
Richard earned his BA with highest honors and JD with high honors from Rutgers University.
Suden Rao, Ph.D.
Dr. Sudendra (Suden) Rao joins Frontage as Senior Vice President, Human Resources, North America. In this new role, Suden will be leading the HR teams across all of Frontage’s North American sites.
His broad mandate will be to lead the transition of our HR team to an expanded organization, scaled to meet the growing needs of our rapidly growing businesses. Working closely and collaboratively with the business units and other functional support groups, his primary areas of focus will be the implementation of HR best practices, processes, and systems in the areas of employee recruiting, training and development, retention and engagement.
Suden brings over 25 years of US and global human resources leadership experience with entrepreneurial startups to world-class Fortune 500 organizations. Suden has worked with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, CRO, medical devices, and healthcare organizations known for HR best practices and recognized among the Best Companies to Work For. Most recently he was the Chief HR Officer of Cadila Pharmaceuticals, supporting operation, transformation, and exponential growth across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia. Previously he has held US and global HR leadership roles at DaVita and Quest Diagnostics, both Fortune 500 healthcare leaders, where he successfully led the organizational restructuring, change management and automation and digital transformation of HR, supporting organic and M&A growth.
Suden received a PhD in HRD from the Colorado State University, USA and an MA in Economics and Bachelor’s in Law from India, and a Gold Medal in Training and Development. He is a frequently invited speaker at international HR and business forums.