Our highly skilled and experienced management team possesses extensive knowledge of the markets in which we operate.
Most of our senior management team have experience with leading global pharmaceutical companies and an in-depth understanding of our markets and the requirements of our customers. Almost all members of our senior management team possess a scientific background with a PhD and/or MD in their relevant field. They also regularly contribute to peer-reviewed industry publications and journals as well as present at national and international scientific conferences.
Executive Leadership Team
Song Li, Ph.D.
Dr. Song Li founded Frontage Laboratories in 2001 with the ambition of building a client-focused organization to help solve the most complex drug development challenges. Prior to Frontage, Dr. Li held management positions at Great Valley Pharmaceuticals and Wyeth. During this time, he led numerous projects related to the development of pharmaceutical products.
Dr. Li has authored more than 15 scientific publications spanning a wide range of topics, including chiral separations, drug-protein interactions, pharmacokinetics, and analytical chemistry. Importantly, Dr. Li has been the recipient of numerous awards, most recently Healthcare CEO award from Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the “Realizing the American Dream” award from the Pennsylvania Welcoming Society, and the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award from the AABDC.
Dr. Li earned a doctor of philosophy degree in analytical chemistry from McGill University and a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Zhengzhou University in China.
John Lin, Ph.D.
Dr. John Lin is the Co-Chief Executive Officer at Frontage Laboratories.
Previously, Dr. Lin has served as the President of Global Laboratory Services responsible for Bioanalytical, Biologics and the Central Laboratory Services at Frontage.
As a well-recognized leader in the CRO industry, Dr. Lin will lead the Laboratory Services including Bioanalytical, Biologics, Biomarker, Central Laboratory, Analytical Services and the Clinical Operations with additional responsibilities for global Quality Assurance, Information Technology, Sales & Marketing, and the Facility Management.
Dr. Lin has more than 25 years of bioanalytical chemistry experience and has served Frontage since 2007 in various leadership roles. Prior to joining Frontage, he held both management and scientific positions including as Laboratory Director at Avantix Laboratories, Inc., and as the Business Leader in the global DMPK division at AstraZeneca. His expertise includes the drug discovery and development process and pharmaceutical project lifecycle and data management. Dr. Lin’s current research focus is in micro sampling technique (DBS and CMS, etc.), and ultrasensitive biomarker assays, large molecules (antibody drug conjugate (ADC), mAb, proteins, oligonucleotide, etc.) quantification using LC-MS/MS.
His achievement is evidenced by more than 40 research publications encompassing the development and validation of LC-MS/MS methods for the determination of small and large molecules (peptide and protein, etc.) in biological matrices, 8 book chapters and one technical patent. He is the invited reviewer for several international journals. Also experienced with regulatory requirements and guidelines, Dr. Lin has hosted over 12 FDA inspections and supported several successful regulatory submissions of medical products.
Dr. Lin received his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada and did his post-doctoral research in Pharmacokinetics and Metabolism at the College of Pharmacy and the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the Ohio State University, USA.
Wentao Zhang, Ph.D.
Dr. Wentao Zhang is the Co-Chief Executive Officer at Frontage Laboratories. In this role, Dr. Zhang is responsible for Frontage’s comprehensive end-to-end services in Global Drug Discovery, DMPK, Safety & Toxicology, CMC and Product Development, in addition to leading Finance, Legal and Human Resources functions.
Previously Dr. Zhang served as the Chief Strategy Officer where he successfully led global restructuring and positioned Frontage for growth. He came to Frontage Laboratories in 2021 through the acquisition of Quintara Discovery, an innovative and highly profitable discovery service organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area, that he founded in 2012. Before founding Quintara, Dr. Zhang was Senior Director at Exelixis where he managed key drug discovery platforms and functions that included compound repository, assay development and high-throughput screening, lead optimization, DMPK and safety pharmacology.
Dr. Zhang received his BS in Chemistry from Peking University, MS in Bioanalytical Chemistry from Emory University and PhD in Biophysical Chemistry from University of Wisconsin-Madison. He did postdoctoral research at the University of California-Berkeley.
Abdul Mutlib, Ph.D.
Dr. Abdul Mutlib is the Chief Scientific and Strategy Officer and President Canada at Frontage Laboratories, Inc. Dr. Mutlib has successfully held several executive roles including the Chief Executive Officer and the Global Head of DMPK/Preclinical Services. Dr. Mutlib was the Chief Executive Officer of Frontage from January 2023 to January 2025.
Prior to joining Frontage in 2010, he held scientific and leadership roles at Wyeth and Pfizer. Earlier in his career, he held scientific positions on the drug metabolism teams at Hoechst-Roussel (now Sanofi-Aventis) and DuPont-Merck. With more than 37 years of experience in drug discovery and development, Dr. Mutlib’s interest includes: drug metabolism and analytical chemistry; application of various analytical techniques and stable isotope labeled compounds in elucidating structures of metabolites and metabolic pathways; mass spectrometry; qualitative and quantitative NMR; metabolism-mediated toxicities; reactive metabolites; phase II metabolism; drug-drug interactions; and toxicogenomics. He has published more than sixty-nine papers in peer-reviewed journals, written 3 book chapters, and holds 3 patents. He participates as a reviewer for several scientific journals.
Dr. Mutlib earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Sydney in Australia. He completed post-doctoral fellowships from the Universities of Washington and British Columbia.
John Kapeghian, Ph.D.
Dr. John Kapeghian, PhD, DABT is Frontage’s Senior Advisor of Global Safety & Toxicology Services. John has over 35 years of experience in global preclinical safety evaluation and development. Until recently, John served as Executive Vice President Global Safety and Toxicology at Frontage.
After working in regulatory and experimental toxicology units at large pharma (Ciba now Novartis) and in contract research (Sierra Biomedical/Charles River), he established his own company, Preclinical Safety Associates, which provides toxicology strategy and regulatory services for over 90 companies worldwide since 2006.
As a subject matter expert and a recognized leader in the Safety and Toxicology space, John has served on the Toxicology Advisory Board of Genzyme Pharmaceuticals and has been a Section Editor at the International Journal of Toxicology for over 20 years. He has over 100 abstracts, presentations, and publications to his credit.
During his tenure in pharma, contract research, and consulting, John helped write preclinical dossiers supporting human safety for regulatory authorities in the US, UK, EU, Canada, India, and Asia. John’s passion for quality in toxicology data evaluation and interpretation led him to form a company in 2008 dedicated to training Study Directors, with additional workshops in clinical pathology and project management. John continues to train Study Directors via courses and workshops at national toxicology
meetings, and through his consulting practice, book chapters, and numerous publications.
John received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology/ Toxicology from the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy in Oxford MS and is current with his DABT certification.
Dongmei Wang, Ph.D.
With over 27 years of experience in pharmaceutical industry and CRO, Dr. Wang is currently the Executive Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing and Project Management at Frontage Laboratories. In this position, Dongmei is also leading the effort to cross-sell Frontage’s comprehensive drug development services to clients across the globe.
Since she joined Frontage in Feb 2007, Dr. Wang has held several critical leadership roles including overseeing the US and China CMC operations. Previously as the EVP, Global Head of CMC Services, she was responsible for CMC (Chemistry Manufacturing & Control) including analytical services, formulation development, and manufacturing of GLP preclinical batches & GMP clinical trial materials. Under Dongmei’s leadership, the CMC team participated in numerous IND and ANDA programs for multiple clients.
Prior to joining Frontage, Dr. Wang served as the Director of Analytical Chemistry at NovaDel Pharma Inc. in New Jersey where her team contributed to the submission of several NDAs including two oral spray products which were approved by the FDA. Subsequently, Dongmei participated in the development of these two oral spray products including clinical supply manufacturing, CMC sections of 505(b)(2) filings, and technology transfer to commercial manufacturing sites. Prior to NovaDel Pharma, Dr. Wang headed Pharmaceutical Analysis and Control department at Therics Inc. in New Jersey, where she supported numerous 3D printing product development for 510(k) and IND filings.
Dr. Wang earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Iowa State University and performed postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago, Illinois. She received her MS in Chemical Engineering from China Institute of Atomic Energy and a BS degree in Chemistry from Peking University, China. Earlier in her career, Dr. Wang was a lecturer at the Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Science.
Huan Wang, M.S.
Ms. Huan Wang is a finance and accounting professional with over 15 years of experience in financial operations, M&A, IPO and strategic planning across North America and Europe. Immediately after graduating with a master’s degree in administration, in 2008, she began her career at Frontage as Senior Business Analyst. Over the years, Huan had assumed progressively increasing responsibilities and most recently held the title of Vice President of Finance, demonstrating expertise in day-to-day accounting, budgeting, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), project accounting, treasury, corporate taxation, financial system implementation, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and initial public offering (IPO).
In her most recent role, Huan led the regional finance team across North America and Europe, ensuring compliance with IFRS and PRC GAAP, establishing a shared services center for enhanced efficiency, and overseeing financial reporting, capital allocation, and risk management. Key contributions included optimizing treasury operations, supporting the CFO in capital structure strategy, and fostering stakeholder confidence.
Previously, as Financial Controller (Jul 2017 – Jan 2025), Huan managed financial due diligence for multiple M&A transactions, and modernized financial systems, improving automation and internal controls. Huan also directed comprehensive accounting operations, monthly close processes, and budgeting cycles while maintaining strong relationships with auditors, tax advisors, and banking partners.
Huan holds a Master of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University and a Bachelor of Economics from Beijing Wuzi University. Adept with ERP systems, Huan combines technical proficiency with leadership to deliver actionable financial insights in fast-paced environments.
Richard Fischetti
Richard Fischetti, Vice President and General Counsel, has extensive experience in corporate law relating to life sciences companies. Prior to joining Frontage, Richard was a Partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of Shearman & Sterling LLP, a multinational law firm headquartered in New York City, where he practiced for over a decade. While at Shearman, Richard led numerous strategic transactions for both public and private companies, including mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, as well as advising on matters related to securities laws, corporate governance and shareholder activism. Much of his experience involved advising various life sciences companies.
Richard earned his BA with highest honors and JD with high honors from Rutgers University.
Suden Rao, Ph.D.
Dr. Sudendra (Suden) Rao joins Frontage as Senior Vice President, Human Resources, North America. In this new role, Suden will be leading the HR teams across all of Frontage’s North American sites.
His broad mandate will be to lead the transition of our HR team to an expanded organization, scaled to meet the growing needs of our rapidly growing businesses. Working closely and collaboratively with the business units and other functional support groups, his primary areas of focus will be the implementation of HR best practices, processes, and systems in the areas of employee recruiting, training and development, retention and engagement.
Suden brings over 25 years of US and global human resources leadership experience with entrepreneurial startups to world-class Fortune 500 organizations. Suden has worked with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, CRO, medical devices, and healthcare organizations known for HR best practices and recognized among the Best Companies to Work For. Most recently he was the Chief HR Officer of Cadila Pharmaceuticals, supporting operation, transformation, and exponential growth across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia. Previously he has held US and global HR leadership roles at DaVita and Quest Diagnostics, both Fortune 500 healthcare leaders, where he successfully led the organizational restructuring, change management and automation and digital transformation of HR, supporting organic and M&A growth.
Suden received a PhD in HRD from the Colorado State University, USA and an MA in Economics and Bachelor’s in Law from India, and a Gold Medal in Training and Development. He is a frequently invited speaker at international HR and business forums.