# Cheng Zhang

> Cheng Zhang is the co-founder and CEO of Character Biosciences, a precision-medicine biotech that flips traditional drug discovery on its head by starting with patients instead of targets. Trained in mathematics and philosophy at Duke and shaped by years at UBS, Oliver Wyman, and Pfizer, Zhang built Character around a proprietary database of thousands of patients with age-related macular degeneration, combining genomics, longitudinal clinical data, retinal imaging, and machine learning to reclassify common diseases of aging into genetic subtypes. In 2025 the company raised an oversubscribed $93 million Series B to move its lead eye-disease candidates into the clinic.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Character Biosciences
- **Organizations:** Character Biosciences, Clover Therapeutics, Clover Health, Pfizer, Oliver Wyman, UBS, Clinton Health Access Initiative
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Mathematics and Philosophy, Duke University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Character Biosciences, a precision-medicine biotech focused on diseases of aging, Raised an oversubscribed $93 million Series B in 2025, co-led by aMoon and Luma Group, Built a proprietary database analyzing data from over 6,500 patients with intermediate and advanced dry AMD

## Career timeline

- **2006** — Investment Banking Summer Analyst at UBS
- **2007** — Management Consultant at Oliver Wyman
- **2009** — HIV/AIDS Initiative Consultant at the Clinton Health Access Initiative
- **2012** — Joined Pfizer as Head of the Strategy & Innovation Group and Director
- **2017** — Co-Founded Clover Therapeutics and served as Vice President at Clover Health
- **2020** — Founded Character Biosciences (following the Clover Therapeutics effort) as CEO
- **2022** — Company spun out independently and rebranded as Character Biosciences after an $18M Series A
- **2025** — Led an oversubscribed $93M Series B to advance lead AMD candidates into the clinic

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Character Biosciences, a precision-medicine biotech focused on diseases of aging
- Raised an oversubscribed $93 million Series B in 2025, co-led by aMoon and Luma Group
- Built a proprietary database analyzing data from over 6,500 patients with intermediate and advanced dry AMD
- Advanced two lead candidates, CTX114 (advanced dry AMD / geographic atrophy) and CTX203 (preventing progression to advanced AMD)
- Pioneered a patient-first drug discovery model combining genomics, longitudinal clinical data, retinal imaging, and machine learning

## Latest updates

- **2025-03** — Character Biosciences raised an oversubscribed $93 million Series B, co-led by aMoon and Luma Group, to fund clinical trials for its lead AMD candidates.

## Links

- Website: https://characterbio.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/chengzhang830

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/cheng-zhang
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-22