Rafael Amado, MD

President and Head of Global Oncology Research and Development

Rafael G. Amado, M.D., joined Zai Lab in December 2022 as President, Head of Global Oncology Research and Development, leading and overseeing the company’s global oncology research and development activities.

Prior to joining Zai Lab, Dr. Amado was the Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer for Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. Before joining Allogene, Dr. Amado served as President of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer of Adaptimmune, LLC from August 2018 to July 2019 and as Chief Medical Officer from March 2015 to July 2018. In these roles, he was responsible for directing discovery and clinical development strategy as well as execution activities for several gene-engineered cell therapies, chairing the R&D leadership team and providing medical guidance for pipeline prioritization. Prior to Adaptimmune, Dr. Amado held various roles of increasing responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline from 2008 to 2015, most recently as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Oncology Research and Development, and at Amgen Inc. from 2003 to 2008, where he was last Executive Director of Clinical Research and Global Development in Therapeutic Oncology.

Dr. Amado received an M.D. from the University of Seville School of Medicine in Seville, Spain and completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center and a fellowship in Hematology / Oncology at UCLA.