DIA announces the appointment of Carol Zhu as Senior Vice President & Managing Director for DIA Greater China effective Monday, February 15th. Ms. Zhu’s appointment signals the next horizon for DIA in Greater China as it continues to build from a substantial foundation and to focus on the organization’s vision as the essential partner in catalyzing knowledge creation and sharing to accelerate health care product development.

Ms. Zhu comes to DIA from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she was the Senior Program Officer for R&D Programs. In this role, she interacted with the Chinese government, the private sector, academic partners, and other global health entities to identify, develop and deliver high-quality, low-cost health products for use in developing countries with the aim of tackling infectious diseases and other health and hygiene needs.  She also contributed to the initiative led by the Foundation on regulatory system improvement, collaborated with regulators, industry players and NGOs, including CFDA, WHO, and other organizations.  Prior to her work at the Foundation, she was the founder and CEO of START Shanghai, which was one of the earliest Phase I oncology service companies in China.

Ms. Zhu brings twenty years of experience in clinical research, business operations, and project management in the pharmaceutical industry, having held positions at Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) and GSK. Her work was key to establishing GSK’s R&D Center in Shanghai, where she led the clinical and business operations. Before GSK, she served in a range of different managerial roles at MSD including 5 years at Merck’s global clinical operations in New Jersey, USA.

Ms. Zhu received her B.S. degree in Pharmaceutical Science from Peking University Health Science Center (Beijing Medical University) and an MBA from Rutgers University, USA.

“DIA’s work across the globe is instrumental in advancing thought leadership through our multi-stakeholder, inter-disciplinary exchange, and our portfolio of programs and products are essential to improving the health care product ecosystem globally” said Barbara Lopez Kunz, DIA’s Global Chief Executive. “With her diverse background, Carol will provide us with the leadership necessary to deliver that trusted, future-oriented knowledge and connect the global health care community to this rapidly growing region.”