Dr. Cheng joined Akero as President and Chief Executive Officer in September 2018. Prior to joining Akero, he served as Gilead Sciences’ Senior Vice President from 2009-2015, and then became Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. During his tenure, he was responsible for the clinical development of the HIV program resulting in 11 FDA/EMA approved products. His past responsibilities also included medical affairs and the creation of the development operations department (regulatory affairs, clinical operations, pharmacovigilance, project management, clinical pharmacology, and biometrics), which covered clinical development support in multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, inflammation, respiratory, cardiovascular, HIV, and liver diseases.

Dr. Cheng previously served on the board of directors of MorphoSys (acquired by Novartis), Arbutus Biopharma & privately held Syntimmune (acquired by Alexion). Dr. Cheng holds a BA in biology from Johns Hopkins University and an MD and PhD in cellular and molecular biology from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his internal medicine residency at UCLA and was board certified in internal medicine.