DECHENG - Key Persons
Dr. Michael Notaras is a Vice President at Decheng Capital and has been with the firm since July of 2023.
Prior to joining Decheng Capital, Dr. Notaras was an Associate in the Biotechnology Equity Research team at Morgan Stanley, where he vetted healthcare deals while also covering 30+ therapeutic stocks with up to $30B in market capitalization. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Dr. Notaras was an Associate at Wolfe Research where he covered major large-cap biotechnology stocks and strategics with up to $120B in market capitalization.
Prior to his career in finance, Dr. Notaras was a NHMRC CJ Martin fellow at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University where he discovered the first evidence of multiple schizophrenia mechanisms in patient-derived 3D tissue samples generated from human stem cells. In addition, Dr. Notaras also reported local mRNA degradation mechanisms in neuronal compartments, elucidating the role for nonsense-mediated decay in synaptic plasticity. Michael has published 25 scientific manuscripts (with 4 cover features), been the recipient of over half a million dollars in scholarships, fellowships, and other academic awards. Dr. Notaras holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Dr. Qiang Xu is a Partner at Decheng Capital and has been with the firm since its inception. He is currently serving on the boards of BCFoods, GYT HealthCare Services, IMPACT Therapeutics and KeChow Pharma.
Dr. Xu has over 14 years of experience from biotechnology start-ups to pharmaceutical companies and also has extensive experience in agricultural biotechnology. Dr. Xu started his as a scientist at Bayer, and then joined Scios as a member of the Alzheimers Disease Discovery Program. He worked at Pan Pacific Pharmaceuticals as a director, before he joined Osel as Vice President of Research and the principal investigator for multiple grants funded by the NIH and other foundations. He has published over 30 peer reviewed papers, and 50 conference presentations, and is the co-inventor of 10 patents or applications.
Dr. Xu received his BS in agronomy and MS in Crop Sciences (with Professor Yu Songlie, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering) and PhD in plant physiology from Kansas State University. He completed his postdoctoral training at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Tony Tong is a Partner of Decheng Capital and has been with the firm since May 2014. He has an interest in diverse sectors within the China healthcare industry. He currently serves on the boards of AnHeart Therapeutics, GRIT Biotechnology, Insight Lifetech, LYNK Pharmaceuticals, PerMedos, Phrontline and YolTech Therapeutics.
Prior to joining Decheng Capital, Dr. Tong was a Vice President at Mingly China Growth Fund (MCGF), focusing on evaluating investment opportunities in the healthcare sector and serving on the boards of Yocaly (acquired by Lepu Medical), Family of Health (partially acquired by Sunshine Insurance), Sonicmed and Baifendian Technology. From 2009 to 2012, Dr. Tong was Senior Investment Associate at Yifang Ventures, a venture capital investment and asset management firm founded by Dr. Eric Xu, the Co-founder of Baidu.com. Dr. Tong received his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Institute of Biophysics of Chinese Academy of Science, a BS degree in Life Science from University of Science and Technology of China and the second BS degree in Economics from Peking University.
Dr. Y. Katherine Xu is a partner at Decheng Capital and has been with the firm since May 2019. Dr. Xu currently serves on the board of Equillium (NASDAQ: EQ).
Prior to joining Decheng Capital, Dr. Xu was Partner, Senior Biotechnology Analyst, Co-Group Head of the Biopharmaceutical Equity Research team at William Blair & Company based in New York. Prior to joining William Blair, Dr. Xu was Senior Vice President and Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Wedbush Securities, Vice President and Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Credit Suisse, and Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Pacific Growth Equities. Dr. Xu was recognized by the Financial Times/StarMine "World's Top Analysts" listing, ranking No. 7 overall for stock-picking in the United States for 2010, and No. 2 for stock-picking in biotechnology for 2011; she received the No. 2 ranking in the Wall Street Journal's "Best on the Street" listing for biotechnology for 2011 as well. Before her move to equity research, Dr. Xu was Vice President of Investment Banking at Petkevich & Partners, a boutique investment banking firm in San Francisco focused on the life sciences industry, where she advised companies on a variety of engagements including mergers and acquisitions, workouts, spinouts, and private placements.
Dr. Xu holds a Ph.D. in developmental biology and a Ph.D. minor in engineering-economic systems and operations research from Stanford University Schools of Medicine and Engineering, respectively. She attended Peking University in Beijing before transferring to Kalamazoo College in Michigan in her junior year, where she gained her B.A. with honors.
Dr. Xu serves on the board of directors for The 1990 Institute and The Overseas Young Chinese Forum, two China-related non-profit organizations.
Job Titles:
- Vice President
- Vice President of Decheng Capital and Has Been
Mr. Aaron Li is a Vice President of Decheng Capital and has been with the firm since September 2018. Mr. Li currently serves on the boards of Bioheng and PackGene Biotech.
Prior to Decheng Capital, Mr. Li was a Consultant at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he focused healthcare practice covering various topics including: commercial excellence, emerging market strategy, growth strategy, turnaround, M&A strategy and post-merger integration support. The clients/partners he served include leading global pharmaceutical companies, medical technology companies, healthcare service providers as well as institutional investors. Prior to BCG, he worked for L.E.K. Consulting, a global management consulting firm with a focus on healthcare. Mr. Li received his Bachelor Degree of Economics from Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Mr. Dayton Misfeldt is a Partner at Decheng Capital and has been with the firm since January 2021. Mr. Misfeldt currently serves on the board of Upstream Bio.
Prior to joining Decheng Capital, Mr. Misfeldt was a Managing Director of Bay City Capital. At Bay City Capital, Mr. Misfeldt invested in biopharmaceutical companies and worked closely with management teams on strategic decision making, business development and positioning companies for exit opportunities through accessing the public markets or acquisition. He is currently a board member of Upstream Bio. Past investments include Cadence Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Mallinckrodt), Civitas Therapeutics (acquired by Acorda Therapeutics), Dermira (acquired by Eli Lilly), MAP Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Allergan), Nextwave Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), Oculex Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Allergan), and Pharmion (acquired by Celgene), among others.
Prior to joining Bay City Capital, Mr. Misfeldt was a Vice President at Roth Capital Partners where he worked as a sell-side analyst covering the biopharmaceutical industry. He began his career in consulting at LifeScience Economics. Mr. Misfeldt received a BA in Economics from the University of California, San Diego.
Mr. Peter Colabuono is a Partner at Decheng Capital and has been with the firm since October 2016. He is currently serving as a board member and leading the operations of Ariagen. Mr. Colabuono is also a board director of ConjugateBio, Firefly Biologics and Solve Therapeutics. He previously served on the board of AADi Bioscience (NASDAQ: AADI), Checkmate Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Regeneron) and Velos Biopharma (acquired by Merck).
Mr. Colabuono brings finance, investment, transaction, operational and drug development expertise to Decheng, as well as a passion to find a cure for cancer and bring life-saving drugs to patients. Prior to joining Decheng, Peter held several operational roles, including business and corporate development, sales & marketing and company startups. As an Associate at Frazier Healthcare Ventures, he led the investment and company formation for Silvergate Pharmaceuticals (acquired by CutisPharma), a pediatric rare disease company that to date has launched four internally developed and proprietary products. As Vice President of Business Development & Managed Care and a member of the Operations Committee, Mr. Colabuono played essential role for the success of Silvergate. At Frazier, he was involved in and served as board observer for Calistoga Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Gilead Sciences), VentiRx (acquired by Celgene), Alnara Pharma (acquired by Eli Lilly) and Oceana Therapeutics (acquired by Salix), as well as several of the firm's public investments. Prior to Frazier, he served in the Morgan Stanley and Cowen Healthcare Investment Banking groups. Mr. Colabuono holds a B.A. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Dartmouth College, is an inventor and author on issued patents and journal articles, and he is active with the Head & Neck Cancer Alliance.
Mr. Victor Tong, Jr. is a Managing Director at Decheng Capital and has been with the firm since its inception.
Mr. Tong focuses on investments in biotechnology and medical technology companies in the US and China. He currently serves on the boards of Cellares, CG Oncology (NASDAQ: CGON), Harton Therapeutics, Hummingbird Bioscience, LevitasBio, Nalu Medical, Take2 and Watchmaker Genomics. Previously, Mr. Tong served as Chairman at ReadCoor before its acquisition by 10X Genomics. He also held board positions at Cirina (acquired by GRAIL / Illumina) and GeneWEAVE Biosciences (acquired by Roche).
Prior to joining Decheng, Mr. Tong was a Principal at Bay City Capital, a life sciences investment firm, and a member of the healthcare investment banking division at Morgan Stanley.
Mr. Tong holds a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology and B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley.
Mr. Wei Xu is a Partner at Decheng Capital and has been with the firm since 2017. He is currently serving on the boards of Accuragen, AnHeart Therapeutics, Centricity Vision, Ketai Medical, MDCO and USCI Medical Laboratory.
Prior to joining Decheng, Mr. Xu was Managing Director of Denlux Capital and served on the boards of Cirina (acquired by GRAIL), BEST (NYSE: BSTI), and SINOMED (688108.CH).
Mr. Xu received Master degree in Economics from University of Oslo, and a BS degree in College of Biomedical Engineering & Instrument Science from Zhejiang University.
Mr. Yang Lu is a Vice President at Decheng Capital and has been with the firm since May 2019.
Prior to joining Decheng Capital, Mr. Lu was an Associate in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Deutsche Bank, where he worked on M&A and capital raising transactions in life sciences, medical device and healthcare services industries. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Lu was an Assistant Manager at KPMG, where he provided forensic accounting services for engagements related to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance, anti-fraud investigation, and antitrust compliance. He also worked in the Audit department at KPMG.
Mr. Lu received his Bachelor Degree of Accounting and Finance from University of Leeds and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Job Titles:
- Fellow at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University