Announcement • Jul 17
Gyre Therapeutics, Inc. Announces Board and Committee Changes, Effective August 1, 2026
Gyre Therapeutics, Inc. announced that its Board of Directors had appointed three new members, effective August 1, 2026: Yue Xiong, Ph.D., the Company's Chief Scientific Officer, as a Class I director with a term expiring at the Company's 2028 annual meeting of stockholders; Maxwell (Max) Kirkby as a Class II director with a term expiring at the Company's 2029 annual meeting of stockholders and appointed to the Compensation Committee of the Board; and Claire Weston, Ph.D. as a Class III director with a term expiring at the Company's 2027 annual meeting of stockholders and appointed to the Audit Committee of the Board. Dr. Xiong has served as Gyre’s Chief Scientific Officer since May 2026. Dr. Xiong previously served as a member of the board of directors of Cullgen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 2018 until the closing of Cullgen’s merger with Gyre, and as Chief Scientific Officer of Cullgen from August 2020 until closing of Cullgen’s merger with Gyre. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in cell biology at Cold Spring Harbor Lab, Dr. Xiong joined the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1993. He was a William R. Kenan Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics from January 2005 to July 2020, where he was responsible for classroom teaching and laboratory mentoring of students and trainees, conducting research, recruitment and mentoring of junior faculty and participating other university activities. From September 2006 to July 2020, Dr. Xiong also led the Cancer Cell Biology Program the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he was responsible for organizing program activity such as monthly seminars, annual retreat and symposium, preparing annual program progress report to NCI and competing renewal cancer center core grant, and other research activity in the cancer center. Dr. Xiong has an undergraduate degree from Fudan University and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Rochester. Dr. Xiong has received several awards for his scholarship and research, published more than 200 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and is a named inventor on two U.S. patents. He was elected as a fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2012. Maxwell Kirkby is the co-owner of Huang and Kirkby Pharma Consulting, a consulting company that he co-founded in May 2024. Mr. Kirkby previously served in various leadership roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, a global biopharmaceutical company, including as the Executive Director and Head of R&D Strategy, China, from March 2022 to May 2024 and Interim Head of R&D, China from May 2023 to November 2024. Prior to joining Bristol-Myers, Mr. Kirkby served as the Executive Director and Head of Japan & Asia Pacific Development at Amgen Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company, from February 2020 to March 2022. Prior to joining Amgen, from August 1989 to January 2020, Mr. Kirkby held positions of increasing responsibility at AstraZeneca plc, a global biopharmaceutical company, most recently serving as VP of Development, China. Claire Weston, Ph.D. is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Tactus AI LLC an AI healthcare company, which she has led since January 2025. Dr. Weston previously served as a member of the Executive Leadership Team and a Board Observer at CellCarta Biosciences, Inc., a private biotechnology company, from May 2021 to February 2023. Dr. Weston founded and served as the Chief Executive Officer of Reveal Biosciences Inc., a private AI-powered digital pathology platform, from June 2012 until the company was acquired by CellCarta Biosciences in May 2021. She also served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Reveal Biosciences from 2019 to May 2021. Prior to this, Dr. Weston served as senior scientist at Vala Sciences, Inc., a private biotechnology company, from April 2011 to July 2012. Dr. Weston was a Board Director for Athena, a non-profit supporting women in STEM, from January 2020 to December 2022. Dr. Weston received a B.Sc. in Biotechnology from Cardiff University and a Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the University of Cambridge and completed postdoctoral studies at the UMass Chan Medical School.
