Meet our Founders
David M. Epstein, Ph.D.
Scientific Co-Founder and R&D Advisor
David is a biopharmaceutical leader and executive who has successfully led large and small R&D teams in academic, start-up, mid-size, and global large-pharmaceutical settings. His teams have progressed multiple novel agents through development in oncology, cardiovascular disease, and retinal degeneration.
In addition to his appointment as a Co-Founder and R&D Advisor of PairX Bio, he is also President and CEO of Black Diamond Therapeutics. Prior to his current appointments, David was Vice Dean, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and Associate Professor in Cancer & Stem Cell Biology, at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, where he founded and built Duke-NUS’s Centre for Technology & Development, which has developed a pipeline of innovation projects. Previously, he was Chief Scientific Officer at OSI Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical company acquired by Astellas Pharma, and founder of Archemix Corporation, where he led the advancement of multiple product candidates into the clinical in multiple therapeutic areas.
David earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Brandeis University and completed a joint post-doctoral fellowship, leading a collaboration in protein structure, function, and NMR dynamics between the labs of Steven Benkovic (Penn State) and Peter Wright at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. He received a B.Sc. in Chemistry from Lewis & Clark College.
Raymond Lee, Ph.D.
Scientific Co-Founder and VP of Discovery Research
Raymond did his doctoral and subsequent post-doctoral training in developmental biology and cell signalling in the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR. He then joined David Epstein’s laboratory at Duke NUS Medical School as a Research Fellow where he worked on aberrant splicing during cancer formation.
His research led to the discovery that novel tumour-associated antigens may be derived from aberrantly spliced proteins, and that these antigens are immunogenic. Together with David, he founded PairX Bio to pursue the vision of developing next-generation cancer immunotherapies.
Raymond earned his Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Paul Thiery. He received an M.Sc. in Bioinformatics from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Jeffrey Lu
Founding Investor, Avendesora
Jeff brings extensive experience as a successful technology and healthcare businessperson, and entrepreneur over the past decade. He has held CxO and senior executive roles at successful technology-driven start-ups and blue-chip companies. Jeff co-founded Engine Biosciences, and was previously with AAE (acquired by Expedia), AirAsia, Goodman Capital and Bain & Company. Two of the high-performing companies Jeffrey was instrumental in building reached sizable exits with a total valuation of $450MM. With his experience in venture, M&A, and company building, Jeff has made many active and promising investments in healthcare, biotechnology, and internet companies from both the US and Asia.
Jeff has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He received his B.A. summa cum laude from University of Pennsylvania.
XQ Lin
Founding Investor, EVX Ventures
XQ is a seasoned global business leader and entrepreneur, and a synergistic business partner to entrepreneurial scientists/innovators, with a track record in taking technologies from concept to commercial reality. At a young age, XQ transformed Esco into a global life sciences and medical technologies group, growing shareholder value by 25% CAGR over 20 years (since 2000). He has developed multiple products and technologies from concept to profitable commercial reality, multiple patents, and cumulative revenues of over $1 billion.
As the founder of EVX Ventures, XQ has developed the biotech ecosystem in Asia with the launch of wet lab incubators, housing several biotech startup firms, Morphosis venture fellowship (talent development), and the PLATINUM grant program (pre-seed grant funding to academic labs).
XQ graduated with a B.Sc. in Economics from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.