Vivo Ventures: Our Team

Our Team

Dr. Frank Kung

Managing Partner

Dr. Kung is a founding member of Vivo Ventures, LLC (formerly BioAsia Investments), a healthcare/biotechnology venture capital management firm in Palo Alto, California.

Dr. Kung started his career in the biotechnology industry in 1979 when he joined Cetus Corporation. He later co-founded Cetus Immune Corporation in 1981, which was acquired by its parent company in 1983. In 1984 he co-founded Genelabs Technologies, Inc. (NADSAQ: GNLB) where he served as Chairman and CEO until 1995. During his tenure in Genelabs, he brought the company public in 1991, and built it to a 175 employee international biotech company with operations in the United States, Belgium, Singapore, Switzerland and Taiwan.

Dr. Kung received his B.S. in chemistry from the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, his Ph.D. in molecular biology and M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. He received the Best Use of Technology Award from the Governor of California, the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards from Ernst and Young, and the Asian Business League. He also served on the board of directors of the Emerging Company Governing Body of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO); Mt. Jade Science and Technology Association, West Coast; and the Asian American Manufacturing Association. He was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services as a voting member of the National Biotechnology Policy Board. Dr. Kung currently serves on the board of directors of a number of emerging healthcare and biotechnology companies.

Dr. Edgar G. Engleman

Managing Partner

Edgar G. Engleman, M.D. Dr. Engleman is a founding member of Vivo Ventures, LLC (formerly BioAsia Investments), a healthcare/biotechnology venture capital management firm in Palo Alto, California.

Dr. Engleman is Professor of Medicine and Pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he oversees the Stanford Blood Center and his own immunology research group. An editor of numerous scientific journals and the inventor of multiple patented technologies, he co-founded Cetus Immune (1981), Genelabs Technologies (1984), National Medical Audit (1985), Dendreon Corporation (l992) and CellGate Technologies (1998). Dr. Engleman currently serves on the boards of several private biotechnology companies. Dr. Engleman received his B.A. from Harvard University and his M.D. from Columbia University School of Medicine.

Dr. Albert Cha

Managing Partner

Albert Cha, M.D., Ph.D. is a Managing Partner and joined the firm in 2000. His focus is to invest in later-stage private and public companies.

He serves or has served on the boards of Biodel (NASDAQ: BIOD) and Bioform Medical (NASDAQ: BFRM) as well as several private biotechnology and medical device companies. Albert has gained valuable operational experience by serving as founding or interim CEO for several portfolio companies. Prior to joining Vivo, Albert worked at Oracle Corporation in pharmaceutical consulting and at the Palo Alto VA Hospital as a biomedical engineer.

Graduating from Stanford University with a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Albert went on to complete an M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from UCLA Medical School. During his studies, he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha and won the prestigious Outstanding Graduate Student Award. His research in molecular biophysics has been published in highly respected journals such as Nature and Neuron.

Dr. Chen Yu

Partner

Dr. Yu is an MD, MBA graduate of Stanford University with extensive operating experience in a broad array of industries with stints at aQuantive, Eli Lilly, and Bain & Co. In particular, his experience as an early employee at aQuantive, recently acquired by Microsoft for $6B, has provided him with special expertise in building new companies. During his tenure there as a Group Product Manager, he led the team that designed, developed, and launched the company’s first suite of ad targeting software. At Vivo, his interest is in both pharmaceutical and medical device companies and he currently serves on the boards of several life science companies.

Dr. Yu’s research background was focused on immunology and infectious diseases and has published several peer review articles in journals such as the Journal of Experimental Medicine. He is also the owner of multiple patents pending in technology and the life sciences. Dr. Yu graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Biology from Harvard University.

James Huang

Executive in Residence

James Huang, MBA, has extensive operating and business development experience through 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He joined Vivo from Anesiva, where he served as president and previously as senior vice president of business development and commercial operations. Prior to Anesiva, he was VP Business Development and Commercial Operations at Tularik Inc prior to its acquisition by Amgen. Mr. Huang was also a product director for diabetes at SmithKline Beecham PLC (now GlaxoSmithKline), and also held various positions in product development, business development, sales and marketing, and research and development at SmithKline Beecham, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Alza (now a Johnson & Johnson company). He received an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business and earned a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.