Meet the United Research Laboratories Team

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David C. Evans, Ph.D.

CEO

Ron Connolly

Ron Connolly

Senior Vice President, Operations

Wenyong Wang

Wenyong Wang, Ph.D., MBA

Vice President, Corporate Development

Dr. Song Li

Song Li, Ph.D.

Founder and Chairman

Dr. David Evans is CEO of United Research Laboratories, utilizing over three decades of experience in scientific and strategic leadership roles of global teams in large pharma to lead our organization. Dr. Evans facilitated the molecular design and drug development efforts at three major pharmaceutical companies - Janssen R&D, Johnson & Johnson (2005 – 2022), Merck (1995 – 2005), and GSK (1988 – 1995), leading to numerous global regulatory submissions. At Janssen, Dr. Evans was VP and Global Head of Drug Metabolism & Pharmacokinetics (DMPK) where he and his team were instrumental in the preclinical and clinical characterization of numerous drug candidates that resulted in several approved and marketed drugs: INVOKANA (canagliflozin), ZYTIGA (abiraterone), OLYSIO (simeprevir), SPRAVATO (esketamine), IMBRUVICA (ibrutinib), BALVERSA (erdafitinib), and ERLEADA (apalutamide). Dr. Evans was also co-chair of the Cardiovascular & Metabolism (CVM) / Retina / Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) Discovery Portfolio Council (DPC), where candidates were advanced through the discovery pipeline and clinical development. He was also a member of Janssen’s First-in-Human Early Development Committee. At Merck, Dr. Evans was an Executive Director where he supported discovery efforts that led to the registration of EMEND (aprepitant), and similarly at Glaxo, as a Team Leader, in studies that led to the filing of LOTRONEX (alosetron). 

Dr. Evans holds a Ph.D. degree in chemistry, metabolism, and toxicology from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, which fueled his interest in drug structure optimization to attenuate metabolic activation and subsequent potential for organ toxicity. He has authored over 50 papers in the peer-reviewed scientific literature on these subjects and associated topics. 

Ron Connolly serves the company as Senior Vice President of Operations, utilizing over 32 years of product development, scale-up, and commercialization experiences for pharmaceutical products to oversee the distribution activities for our commercial products, as well as the CMC development of new novel and generic products.
Ron contributed to the success of numerous Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Finished Dosage Forms throughout his career. Ron started his career with the scale up of small molecule synthesis processes at Smithkline Beecham (now GSK) and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (now Sanofi) and expanded to the development and scale up of parenteral and orally-delivered formulations at esiLederle Pharmaceuticals (a division of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, now Pfizer) and subsequent projects. Ron contributed to many first-time approvals of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in Europe, S. America, China, India and the USA, plus Finished Dosage Forms in the USA and China. While leading development and launch projects at Wyeth, Ron worked together with Dr. Song Li and later joined Dr. Li to build Frontage Laboratories, a multinational and diverse Contract Research Organization, and Frontida BioPharm, a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization over the last 20 years. Through the leadership roles at pharma companies and business ventures, Ron has developed a diverse skill set in product development, manufacturing operations leadership, commercial and business development, corporate M&A and product acquisitions, as well as pharmaceutical regulatory and GMP compliance.

Dr. Wenyong Wang leads the corporate development efforts for United. Wenyong has a proven track record of value creation and deal making throughout much of his 20+ years of experience in healthcare and life science industries spanning R&D, business development and investment.

Dr. Wang contributed to the completion of more than 30 high-profile capital raising, investments, Mergers and Acquisitions, joint venture and product licensing transactions during his tenures at Frontida BioPharm, Adaptimmune, Evolution Life Sciences Partners, Boeing & Scattergood, and Jenny Montgomery Scott yielding an aggregate value in excess of $5B.  In addition, Dr. Wang has extensive experiences in drug research and development, starting as a Principal Scientist at GlaxoSmithKline. Wenyong utilizes these knowledges to select high potential opportunities for the company to build product portfolio and to support program development activities.

Dr. Wang earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and MBA from Penn State University.

Dr. Song Li is Chairman and Founder, providing his vision, entrepreneurial wisdom, and direction to United's pharmaceutical product selection and development efforts. Dr. Li has launched a number of companies over the years, most notably as the Founder of Frontage Laboratories, ranked as one of the best Contract Research service providers in the pharmaceuticals industry in the USA and China.

Dr. Li is a renowned scientist in analytical and bioanalytical chemistry, with proven experiences in drug development spanning 30 years, as well as a Mentor to hundreds of scientists focused on drug research and development.

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