Hai Yan, Ph.D. is a Partner at Catalio Capital Management, LP. He is primarily responsible for identifying opportunities for the Catalio funds in Asia, investing across innovative healthcare companies in biotech, medical devices, life science tools, diagnostics and data. As Catalio’s first-ever Asia-based Partner, Hai is based in Singapore and is focused on building and leading Catalio’s Asia strategy across venture creation, early-stage investing, and cross-border partnerships.
Additionally, Hai is an internationally recognized physician-scientist and biotech entrepreneur whose career spans foundational discovery, translational medicine, and company building. He is a Professor and Research Director at A*STAR’s Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Singapore, leading national initiatives in neuro-oncology, precision medicine, and translational enterprise, and previously served as the Henry Friedman Distinguished Professor and Co-Director of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University.
Hai is best known for discovering IDH1/2 and TERT promoter mutations in gliomas, work that reshaped the WHO classification of brain tumors and enabled the first FDA-approved targeted therapy for diffuse glioma in over 25 years. His research has been published in NEJM, Science, and Nature, and he is a recipient of the International Prize of Translational Neuroscience. Hai is also the Co-Founder and former CSO of Genetron Health, which achieved FDA Breakthrough Device designation and a NASDAQ IPO.
Hai earned his B.A. at Peking University and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. Hai was also a Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.