AstraZeneca, the multinational pharmaceutical company, has appointed Dr. Bob Li, a leading figure from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, as the global head of medical affairs for oncology, according to an announcement on the company’s website.
At MSK, Li was physician ambassador to China and Asia-Pacific, as well as vice president for global research affairs. The Shanghai-born, Australian national has been a high-profile advocate for expanding access to clinical trials as a means to lower cancer fatality rates.
“The future of oncology is not academic cancer centers, but cancer networks,” Li said in a statement. “It’s about leveraging collaboration and technology to improve access for the more than 90% of patients in diverse global communities who miss out on clinical trials and precision oncology”.
Li, 42, has been a regular speaker for the past five years at Forbes China Healthcare Summits organized by Forbes China, the Chinese-language edition of Forbes. In his new position, he will be based in the Washington, D.C. area.
Li has also held the position of senior fellow in global public health at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis and co-founded the institute’s Cure4Cancer Initiative, which has a strategic partnership with Forbes China.