Alan Gordon Lamont 
Senior Director, Global External R&D, Regional Head ACEJ and Emerging Markets, Eli Lilly 

Dr. Lamont currently serves as a Senior Director in the Global External R&D group at Eli Lilly and Company and is based at the company’s site in Erl Wood, London, U.K. His team is responsible for identifying and evaluating external licensing and collaboration opportunities across key regional territories (Europe, Japan, Australia, China, India and Latin America), and working with evaluation, diligence and transactional teams at Lilly to bring these opportunities to fruition. Prior to joining Lilly in 2012, he was an Executive Business Development Director at AstraZeneca UK (Alderley Park), and before that, has worked for various biotech and pharma companies in both the UK (Acambis, Catalyst Biomedica, Peptide Therapeutics Roche UK) and the US (Cytel Corp, San Diego).

Joe McCracken
Global Head of Business Development, Roche

Joseph McCracken is currently the Global Head for Business Development & Licensing for Roche Pharma Partnering.  In this role Dr. McCracken is responsible for Roche’s Pharma’s in-licensing and out-licensing activities, and he is currently based in Nutley, New Jersey.

Prior to joining the Roche Pharma Partnering organization, Dr. McCracken held the position of Vice President, Business Development at Genentech for more than 10 years.  At Genentech Joe was responsible for all business development activities at the Company, including the identification and negotiation of collaboration and licensing agreements with academic institutions, biotechnology companies and pharmaceutical companies throughout the world.  Dr. McCracken returned to Genentech in 2000 after a seven-year absence, during which he held positions as President of Technology Licensing and Alliances at Aventis, and Vice President of Worldwide Business and Technology Development at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer S.A.  During his earlier time with Genentech, Dr. McCracken served in many capacities, culminating in positions as Director of Business Development and Representative Director of Genentech Ltd., Genentech’s wholly owned subsidiary in Japan.

McCracken has more than 25 years of experience in technical, business development and market development roles with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology, a Master of Science in Pharmacology and a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from The Ohio State University. 

Steve Yang
Vice President, Head of R&D for Asia and Emerging Markets, AstraZeneca

Dr. Steve Yang is Vice President, Head of R&D for Asia and Emerging Markets at AstraZeneca. He is based in Shanghai, China and is responsible for developing, implementing and aligning the company’s R&D strategy for Asia and Emerging Markets.

Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Dr. Yang was Vice President, Head of Asia R&D at Pfizer, where he was charged with establishing and expanding the company’s research partnership network with academic institutions, biotechnology firms and Contract Research Organizations across Asia Pacific. He was also responsible for delivering a portfolio of preclinical and clinical stage projects targeting unmet medical needs of emerging markets. Prior to his leadership position in Asia, Dr. Yang was Executive Director and head of the company’s global R&D strategic management group.

Before joining Pfizer Dr. Yang held a number of positions at IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals, a US-based biotech company and also worked for Strategic Decisions Group (SDG), a management consulting firm for Fortune 100 companies.
Dr Yang is the co-founder of the BayHelix Group, a non-profit professional organization of Chinese life science business leaders.

Dr. Yang received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of California, USA. He started his undergraduate study in Fudan University, China and completed his BS Summa Cum Laude in Biology from Michigan Technological University, USA.