The people behind
the science.
Our team was built around a rare combination of talents in clinical science, operational execution, and partnering leadership.
Co-Founders & Executives
Diode Bio was founded by physician-scientists and industry leaders with complementary APAC deal-making, venture, clinical development, and business development track records.
Dr. Alessandro (Alex) Falcone is a life sciences executive with over 15 years of experience spanning oncology clinical development, strategic partnerships, and biotech innovation. As Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Diode Bio, he leads the company’s clinical development, partnering, and asset strategy initiatives focused on advancing oncology and immunology programs through technology-enabled execution models.
Previously, Alex led APAC (ex-China, ex-Korea) sourcing and deal-making for Johnson & Johnson Innovation, partnering with emerging biotech companies across Asia Pacific. Prior to this, at AstraZeneca, he led development programs for major oncology assets including Enhertu, Dato-DXd, and late-stage Lynparza. Earlier, he managed a US$150M innovation and technology partnership fund at GSK focused on AI, genomics, manufacturing technologies, and clinical enablement platforms. He began his career in healthcare strategy consulting at L.E.K. Consulting and IQVIA. Alex has held several board and advisory roles including as a Trustee for the Hadassah Medical Organization, a Board Role at MediSieve and also advisor for Lindus Health CRO.
Alex trained as a medical doctor at UCL, has a first class business degree from Imperial College London and holds a Master’s with distinction in Experimental & Translational Therapeutics from the University of Oxford.
Dr. John Choi is a physician-scientist, entrepreneur, and biotech investor with over 25 years of experience building and scaling healthcare companies across Asia and the United States.
John earned his PhD from Harvard University and trained as a medical doctor at Cornell. He previously co-founded Hua Medicine (SEHK: 2552) and Imvaq Therapeutics, and held investment roles at Venrock, Fidelity, and Fidelity Asia Ventures in the US and China. He most recently was the Regional Head of J&J's early stage incubator in Korea.
His expertise spans translational medicine, venture creation, cross-border healthcare investing, and co-development partnering across Asia and the United States. John brings deep networks across top-tier academic medical centres, KOLs in oncology and immunology, and institutional investors in both regions.
Dr. Chris Britten is a pharmaceutical and biotechnology executive with more than 30 years of experience across licensing, M&A, and global business development. At Diode Bio, he leads strategic transactions, pharmaceutical partnerships, and global asset acquisition initiatives supporting the company’s clinical development platform.
Formerly CBO at Clinical Co-Development company Klar Therapeutics, SVP Global Business Development at Grünenthal and Managing Director at Torreya Partners, Chris has also held senior leadership roles at Sanofi, Novartis (Sandoz), Neuraxpharm, and Advanz Pharma. He began his career in drug discovery at GSK before transitioning into international partnering and corporate development leadership roles. Across his career, he has executed transactions exceeding US$3 billion across oncology, immunology, and specialty pharma.
Chris currently serves as Non-Executive Chairman of Thalia Therapeutics and advises companies ranging from early-stage biopharma to private equity-backed healthcare platforms.
The Core Team
A cross-functional team spanning clinical operations, regulatory affairs, compliance, and finance — each with deep APAC and global pharma backgrounds.
Dr. Nazrin Azli brings more than 25 years of global clinical operations and drug development experience across oncology, immunology, neuroscience, vaccines, and cardiovascular disease. At Diode Bio, he leads clinical execution strategy and operational delivery across the company’s international development portfolio.
Most recently, Nazrin served as VP and Head of Global Clinical Operations, Asia Pacific at Johnson & Johnson/Janssen, overseeing multinational trial execution across China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, and Southeast Asia. Prior to J&J, he spent over a decade at MSD (Merck & Co.) in senior clinical development and medical leadership roles. Earlier in his career, he held medical leadership positions at SmithKline Beecham across Southeast Asia.
Nazrin specializes in global trial execution, operational scaling, and strategic clinical delivery across complex therapeutic programs.
Shun Jin is a senior regulatory affairs executive with more than 30 years of experience supporting pharmaceutical development and approvals across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. At Diode Bio, he leads global regulatory strategy and health authority engagement across oncology, immunology, biosimilars, and advanced therapies.
Formerly Head of Regulatory Competency Center APMA at Sandoz, he oversaw regional regulatory strategy across multiple international markets. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson, Takeda, AbbVie, Parexel, and GE Healthcare.
He brings deep expertise in accelerated approvals, emerging market regulatory pathways, and global development strategy.
Gustavo Rodriguez Gonzalez is a global ethics, compliance, and governance leader with more than 15 years of experience across the biopharmaceutical industry. He currently serves as Senior Director, Global Ethics & Compliance Operations and Ethics & Compliance Lead for Partner and Emerging Markets at argenx, overseeing global compliance operations and supporting business growth across international markets. Previously, he held senior leadership roles at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Sandoz, Teva Pharmaceuticals, GE Healthcare, and MSD. His expertise spans corporate governance, compliance strategy, business integrity, third-party risk management, data privacy, investigations, and AI governance. Gustavo has advised senior executives on regulatory risk, governance, and scalable compliance frameworks that enable responsible growth and has also served as an adjunct professor teaching compliance and corporate governance.
At Diode Bio, he advises on global governance, compliance strategy, partner due diligence, and regulatory risk management.
Svai Sanford is a seasoned life sciences finance executive with more than 25 years of experience across biotech, public markets, and strategic drug development financing. At Diode Bio, he advises on capital strategy, financing structures, public market readiness, and operational scaling. Svai has operated the buy-back model in Blackstone Life Sciences owned SFJ Pharmaceuticals.
As former CFO of SFJ Pharmaceuticals, he led financial strategy and partnership structures for late-stage global drug development programs. He later served as CFO and Chief Accounting Officer of VIVUS Inc., helping lead the company through its IPO and transition into a commercial-stage biopharma company. Most recently, he served as CFO of Rani Therapeutics, leading the company through its NASDAQ IPO and multiple financing rounds.
He brings deep expertise in biotech financing, IPO execution, strategic partnerships, and capital markets.
Johann Noor Mohamed is a finance executive with more than 20 years of leadership experience spanning pharmaceuticals, software, and semiconductor industries. At Diode Bio, he advises on strategic financial planning, international tax structures, operational scaling, and financial governance.
He has held senior finance leadership roles at SFJ Pharmaceuticals, Launch Therapeutics, Vivus, Symantec, and Aurascape, supporting high-growth and development-stage organizations through complex operational and financing environments. Johann began his career at Ernst & Young and holds ACCA qualifications and an MBA from Babson College.
His expertise spans financial optimization, tax strategy, operational efficiency, and cross-border corporate structuring.
Deepika Balachandran is Portfolio Director at Novotech, a leading global CRO, where she provides strategic oversight of complex global clinical development programs, with particular expertise in oncology and early-phase clinical research.
With more than 15 years of experience in clinical development, Deepika has led Phase I-IV clinical trials across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and emerging markets. Her experience spans across oncology, hematology, infectious diseases, cardiology, nephrology, endocrinology, and rare diseases, with deep expertise in study feasibility, development strategy, operational execution, regulatory oversight, and sponsor partnerships.
Throughout her career, Deepika has supported the development of innovative oncology therapies, including first-in-human studies and programs across a range of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. Her experience evaluating clinical development strategies and executing global trials provides a practical perspective on the opportunities and risks associated with emerging therapeutic assets. As Strategic Advisor to Diode Bio, Deepika provides independent clinical development and due diligence expertise to support asset evaluation, clinical strategy, and portfolio decision-making. She draws on her extensive experience assessing development programs and global trial execution to help evaluate the clinical, regulatory, and operational viability of prospective assets.
Strategic Advisors
Global pharmaceutical executives, venture investors, R&D leaders, and CRO operators who advise on deal strategy, clinical operations, regulatory navigation, and commercial execution.
Scientific Advisory Board
World-class academic physicians and translational scientists advising on asset evaluation, clinical design, biomarker strategy, and translational science across the portfolio.
Professor Peter Taylor is one of the world’s leading experts in inflammatory arthritis and translational immunology, with more than 30 years of experience leading global clinical trials in autoimmune disease. Widely recognized as a pioneer in modern inflammatory disease therapeutics, he helped shape the development of anti-TNF, anti-IL-6 receptor, and JAK inhibitor therapies that transformed treatment paradigms in rheumatology.
Formerly the Norman Collisson Chair of Musculoskeletal Sciences at Oxford, his expertise spans immunopathology, biomarker-driven development, translational medicine, and next-generation immune therapeutics.
At Diode Bio, he advises on immunology strategy and innovative inflammatory disease programs.
Dr. Matthew Davids is a leading hematologic oncologist and translational researcher specializing in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), lymphoma, and targeted therapies for blood cancers. He serves as Chief of the Division of Lymphoma at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
His research focuses on the development of novel treatment strategies, including BCL-2 inhibitors, targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and combination approaches for hematologic malignancies. Dr. Davids has led numerous clinical trials that have helped shape modern treatment paradigms in CLL and lymphoma and is widely recognized as a global expert in precision medicine for blood cancers.
At Diode Bio, Dr. Davids advises on hematologic oncology strategy, translational medicine, and the clinical development of innovative therapies for hematologic malignancies.
AI & Clinical Statistics
Stephen Pyke is a global clinical data, AI, and development operations leader with nearly 30 years of experience across pharma, CROs, and digital clinical development. At Diode Bio, he advises on AI-enabled development strategy, biostatistics, clinical analytics, and technology-driven trial optimization.
As former Chief Data Officer at Parexel, Stephen led enterprise-wide patient data, AI, and analytics strategies supporting global clinical trial execution and operational optimization across one of the world’s leading CROs. Prior to this, at GSK, he served as SVP leading Quantitative Sciences, Clinical Operations, and Development Digital Data & Analytics initiatives across large global development organizations. Earlier at Pfizer, he held VP leadership roles overseeing statistics and related development functions.
Stephen is widely recognized for his expertise in AI-enabled clinical development, biostatistics, risk management, digital transformation, and operational strategy. He has also held multiple industry board and governance positions, including Chair of the AI/ML Committee at ACRO and Chair of CDISC, helping shape industry standards in clinical data and technology innovation.
