YODA 2026 Mentors

Whedy Wang (Linkedin)

Bio: Whedy has over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including directing biometrics efforts in more than ten NDA and sNDA submissions, three advisory committee meetings and multiple EX-US submissions, all leading to successful approvals. Whedy is currently VP of Biometrics & Digital Science at Alector, a biotech company that is on a mission to slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases and to one day prevent their occurrence. Prior to joining Alector, she held several senior positions including Vice President of Biometrics and Data Science at Theravance Biopharma, VP of Biometrics at Gilead Sciences Palo Alto (formerly CV Therapeutics), Senior Vice President of Bioinformatics at Orexigen, and Executive Director of Biometrics at Affymax.

What you hope to get out of this experience: I was lucky to have people who were kind enough to offer their advice and guidance throughout my career. I would like to repay their kindness by paying it forward. I also have a fair share of set backs so I know some encouraging words and attentive listening could go a long way.

Fun fact: I love Snoopy and dream about retiring by the beach.

Chito Hernandez (LinkedIn)

Bio:

Coach, Mentor, Life Science Executive

Chito Hernandez is a life science executive and PhD statistician who has led multiple organizations throughout his career. He is currently Group Vice President of Data Science at BioMarin, a world leading biotechnology company focused on rare diseases. In addition, Chito is the Founder of FocusQ, an executive consulting firm that he established in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before his current roles, Chito held Vice President positions at Elan Pharmaceuticals and Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy R&D. He has also made noteworthy contributions to the development of several drugs, eight of which have received regulatory approvals, with seven of them being the first in their class.

Chito serves as mentor and coach, providing tailored guidance and support to a diverse group of individuals, including executives, as they navigate their leadership journeys and strive to achieve both personal and professional aspirations. Through his coaching, he empowers these leaders to create more meaningful and impactful work that aligns with their values and goals.

Motivation: Over time, I have grown to value soft skills like communication, collaboration, and leadership —- Skills crucial for success often under represented in the training of quantitative professionals. My desire is to actively participate in the training of our next generation of quantitative leaders.

Ning Leng (LinkedIn)

Bio: I was trained as a statistician and my PhD research was around statistical genomics. After graduation I stayed in academia for two years. I joined Genentech in 2016 as a statistician, working on both clinical trial conduct and biomarker development. In 2021 I moved to my current team which focusing on data science software and innovation. I have quite broad interests spanned across statistics topics and software innovation. And I am very passionate about bringing the community together via conferences and cross industry collaborations.

Motivation: I attended YODA program as a mentee during earlier years of my career and found it tremendously helpful. What I learned the most from this community are how to "own your career" by being proactive and open-minded and the importance of communicating effectively

Ron Yu (Linkedin)

Bio: Ron Yu is Executive Director of Biostatistics and Head of the Biostatistics Innovation Group at Gilead Sciences. He works with Biostatistics TA Heads to set short- and long-range Biostatistics strategies, advises internal partners on clinical trial design, statistical analysis strategies and interpretation of statistical results, and oversees multiple functional and cross-functional initiatives. Prior to joining Gilead, he worked at Genentech as a project statistician on oncology clinical trials for close to ten years. He is interested in developing any new ideas that could improve the efficiency of drug development process and bring benefits to patients. Outside of his day job, he has been actively involved with BBSW and the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Statistical Association (SFASA) to promote the discipline of statistics and data science.

Ron received his Ph.D. in Scientific Computing and Computational Mathematics and M.S. in Statistics from Stanford University. He received his bachelor's degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he double-majored in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering.

Motivation: Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to have had mentors and managers who provided valuable advice and guidance to me, and I feel a deep responsibility to pay that forward. Networking and collaboration have been fundamental to the growth of my career.

Li Zheng (Linkedin)

Bio: I am currently the Global Head of Analytical Data Science in the Global Product Development group at Roche. I am passionate about the evolving role of data scientist within the Biotech/Pharma industry. In recent years, I helped establish long term visions of the programming specialty and has been driving the changes and transformation of Data Scientist at Roche, including sponsoring Roche’s open-source strategy from its early days and development & upskilling the capabilities of analytical data scientists taking advantage of modern technology. I am a member of the Global Programming Head Council. I received a MS degree in Biostatistics from University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an MBA degree from Northeastern University.

Motivation: leadership, innovation, collaboration and relationship building

Judy Li (linkedin)

Bio: Dr. Judy Li, PhD, is the Head of Hematology Strategy Late Oncology Statistics at AstraZeneca, where she provides leadership and expertise in hematology oncology statistics. With a keen focus on strategic planning, technical oversight, functional development, and operational guidance, Dr. Li plays a pivotal role in propelling the field of hematology statistics forward. Throughout her career, Dr. Li has held senior leadership positions in both the biopharmaceutical and biotech sectors, making significant contributions at organizations including Bristol Myers Squibb, Celgene, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Prior to her industry tenure, she garnered extensive experience at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a master statistical reviewer and supervisory mathematical statistician. An esteemed member of the American Statistical Association (ASA) Biopharmaceutical Section Executive Board, Dr. Li is also the co-founder of the ASA Biopharmaceutical Section Safety Working Group and has chaired the 2019 Regulatory Industry Statistics Workshop. She is the editor of book Quantitative Methodologies and Process for Safety Monitoring and Ongoing Benefit Risk Evaluation. Her remarkable contributions have been acknowledged with the FDA Office of Chief Scientist Intramural Grant Award for two consecutive years. Dr. Li received her PhD in Statistics from the University of California, Riverside and expecting her Executive MBA degree in Healthcare Management, entrepreneurship and Innovation from the Wharton Business School University of Pennsylvania. Her unwavering dedication to advancing innovative statistical methodologies in the healthcare arena underscores her commitment to enhancing patient outcomes and furthering scientific understanding.

Motivation: women in leadership, diversity, inclusiveness, innovation, personal branding

James Reimann, PhD (LINKEDIN)

Bio: James completed his BSc (Hons) in Statistics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Adelaide and his PhD in Statistics at the University of California at Berkeley. James joined Genentech in 1994 and spent his first 5 years supporting Early-Development before spending 20 years in Oncology drug development, starting as an individual contributor and finally serving as VP and global head of the Genentech/Roche oncology biostatistics group for 7 years. In 2020, James took a horizontal move as global head of Data Strategy & Delivery, the clinical data management group that included secondary use of clinical data for research purposes. In 2025 James ended his 30-year career at Genentech and started his own company CoCreative Insights LLC, which combines his twin passions of leadership coaching and oncology drug development.

Motivation: After spending 10+ years as a mentor and coach to peers from various disciplines at Genentech, I decided to pursue professional coaching certification with iPEC, and now work as an independent leadership coach for leaders at Life Science companies.

Iulia Cristina Tudor, PhD (LINKEDIN)

Bio: Cristina Tudor is a strategic and innovative statistical leader with 23+ years of diverse pharmaceutical R&D experience spanning Phase I to Phase IV clinical development programs in multiple therapeutic areas and multiple successful global regulatory submissions. Currently, she is Vice President of Biometrics at Corcept Therapeutics, where she built from the ground up the Biostatistics, Clinical Data Management and Statistical Programming functions, enabling design, execution and analysis of trials in a large spectrum of indications (endocrinology, oncology, metabolic diseases and neurology). Prior to Corcept, Cristina served in a variety of leadership roles in large and midsize pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer, Janssen, Medivation, Alza).

Cristina has a special interest in strategic statistical input to product lifecycle management and in adopting new technologies for process automation in Biometrics. Cristina holds a PhD in Statistics from the School of Advanced Studies of the Romanian Academy (SCOSAAR) and MS in Biostatistics from Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC, Paris, France).

Motivation: