Our Team

Shan Lu, MD, PhD

Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Lu is a physician scientist with long time research interest in novel vaccine development. He served as the Director of Laboratory of Nucleic Acid Vaccines at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA from 1996 to 2022.  He became a Professor Emeritus in 2023.  He is a Fellow of International Society for Vaccines (FISV) and a Fellow of American College of Physicians (FACP). He was elected as the President of ISV for its 2011-2013 term and Chair of Board in 2022.  For the past 20 years, Dr. Lu has been working to develop a preventive HIV vaccine using the polyvalent heterologous DNA – protein strategy.  The IP of this HIV vaccine has been licensed to the Worcester HIV Vaccine for further product development in humans.

Dr. Lu has over 200 publications in leading scientific journals and co-authored over 10 specialty books. He was a recipient of over $60 million research funding and support from US National Institute of Health and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Shuying Liu

Director of R&D

Shuying Liu was a Co-founder of NA BioTech Corp and has served as CSO since 2018.  NABT’s key focus is on the development of therapeutic mAbs using DNA immunization platform. She has over 20 years of major biopharma working experience in the development of therapeutic antibodies and vaccines.

She previously worked at Amgen as the head of mAb group and led the development of hundreds of mAbs against very diversified disease targets. Subsequently, she served as Research Director at Gensun Biopharma, a US startup company and established the company’s oncology therapeutic mAb pipeline.

Eric Wiechert

Director of QA/QC

Dr. Eric Wiechert has been supporting Prof Lu’s HIV vaccine program at UMMS as an independent QA consultant since 2012 and at WHV since its formation in 2018.

Dr. Wiechert holds a Ph.D. degree in Analytical and Organic Chemistry from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and has an extensive background in Quality Assurance, Validation and Regulatory Affairs. He was Director of Quality Assurance for 23 years working for major pharmaceutical companies, followed by over 20 years as an independent consultant for a wide variety of companies worldwide. Throughout his career, Dr. Wiechert has also successfully led more than 25 inspections and audits, including many pre-approval inspections.

Iris Benhayoun

Director of Clinical Program

Iris Benhayoun holds a Master of Science in Epidemiology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and comes with an extensive background in trial studies. Most recently, Iris worked as a clinical research coordinator for both the Specialty Retina Center and the Specialty Gastro Center where she was responsible for patient recruitment and retention, as well as the preparation of clinical offices to comply with sponsor requirements for study site selections.

Previously, Iris worked at the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise assisting in the Timely Topics in HIV Vaccine initiative. She helped create print and online guidance materials for researchers working on the development of a safe and effective HIV Vaccine.

Debra Barngrover

Director of GMP production (Consultant)

Dr. Debra Barngrover has been a senior consultant at Biologics Consulting, focusing on the key technology of DNA and protein vaccine GMP production and FDA regulations. She has over 35 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and has authored and reviewed several CMC BLA, IND, pre-IND and briefing book submissions. Dr. Barngrover has also developed regulatory gap analyses and strategy plans, and provided process development guidance for a variety of products, including cell and gene therapies, protein therapies, vaccines, and small molecule therapies. Prior to working as a consultant, she was Vice President, Technology, at Genzyme Corporation where she led the process development team for a recombinant protein from initial product concept through approval to market launch in over 40 countries and managed the Technology Development group responsible for development of more than 15 small molecule, protein and viral vector products, including seven commercial products.

Edward Gibson

Director of Business Operations

Edward Gibson oversees the business, operational, and administrative aspects of WHV. He has over 9 years of business administration and project management experience within the biomedical research, healthcare, and lab casework industry. Edward brings a unique blend of professional integrity and market knowledge, ensuring excellence and professionalism in all aspects of WHV’s operations. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Roger Williams University.