BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

 

 

John F. Wong, Ph.D.

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Moraga Biotechnology Corporation

 

John Wong is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Moraga Biotechnology Corporation.  Moraga Biotechnology Corporation is a Los Angeles-based, biotechnology company focused on commercializing its peripheral blood-derived, proprietary adult Blastomere-Like Stem Cells (BLSCs) as an autologous stem cell-based therapy for replacing and regenerating damaged or diseased tissues.  Additionally, Moraga has its proprietary serum-free defined stem cell culture media as reagents for the life science research market.
From 1998 to 2004 Dr. Wong was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MorphoGen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., with its headquarters in San Diego, California.  Dr. Wong was instrumental in assembling an experienced management team and raising capital for the biotechnology company.  With its proprietary stem cells, MorphoGen’s goal was to build a technology-based platform where its adult-derived stem cells would become the operating system for cell-based therapeutic products in the emerging field of regenerative medicine within the healthcare industry.  MorphoGen’s muscle-derived, adult, stem cells were discovered to be highly plastic cells reflecting many of the properties of embryonic stem cells.
In 1997, Dr. Wong founded and became President of his consulting firm, SciFin, Incorporated. SciFin, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based consulting firm that specializes in: 1) identifying new platform technologies for commercialization; 2) raising capital for and funding both start-up and early stage biotech and healthcare-related companies; 3) conducting due diligence and fairness opinions; and, 3) developing and acquiring new technologies.
An entrepreneur, Dr. Wong worked on Wall Street for over twenty years. He has extensive experience in founding, assembling and funding new and emerging biotechnology and biomedical companies, and has created three biotechnology companies and an information technology company. Dr. Wong was previously Vice President of Equity Research and the senior biotechnology analyst at Van Kasper & Company of San Francisco, California. An integral member of Van Kasper’s investment banking division, Dr. Wong was the major catalyst as the firm completed numerous stock offerings in both the private and public equity markets. He also was instrumental in Van Kasper being the lead underwriter for the firm’s biotechnology stock public offerings.  In addition, Dr. Wong has managed the secondary offerings of numerous biotechnology companies.
Distinguished in both the investment and scientific communities, Dr. Wong was cited in June 1997, by the Wall Street Journal as an “All Star Analyst” in biotechnology, and has often been interviewed and quoted by the international news media.  For over the 13 years, Dr. Wong wrote the monthly Wall Street BioBeat column for Genetic Engineering News and has written for Nature Medicine. In the past, he appeared frequently on The Business Channel (KWHY) in Los Angeles to discuss issues in the healthcare and biotechnology industries, and is often invited to serve as a speaker and panelist at both scientific and investment conferences throughout the country.
Dr. Wong received a B.A. in zoology and a Ph.D. in immunology and medical microbiology from the University of California School of Public Health, Berkeley.  He completed his postdoctoral training in infectious diseases and cellular immunology at the New York University School of Medicine and a hematology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute in New York.  Prior to entering the securities industry, Dr. Wong was assistant research professor of experimental pathology at the University of Southern California School of Medicine.