Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.

Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder
Luhan Yang

Luhan Yang

Co-Founder & CEO, Qihan Biotech; Co-Founder, eGenesis; CRISPR pioneer, Technology Leaders Initiative

Hangzhou, China

Dr. Luhan Yang is chief executive officer and co-founder of Qihan Biotech, a leader in applying multiplexable genome-editing technology to cell therapies and organ transplantation. Prior to her current role, Luhan was co-founder and chief scientific officer of eGenesis Inc., a biotechnology company advancing CRISPR-enabled xenotransplantation through the development of genetically engineered pig organs for human transplantation. Before co-founding both companies with Dr. George Church and becoming an entrepreneur, Luhan was a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, where she co-invented the highly programmable genome-engineering tool, CRISPR/Cas9, for use in mammalian cells, and pioneered the first isogenic human stem cell lines for modeling human diseases at the tissue level. 

Luhan has authored twenty-four peer-reviewed scientific publications in leading journals and holds more than two dozen patents. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including Fortune’s 40 Under 40 in Healthcare (2020), the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders (2017), Bloomberg 50 (2017), Science News’ 10 Scientists to Watch (2017), and Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science & Healthcare (2014). Luhan earned B.S. degrees in Biology and Psychology from Peking University and a Ph.D. in Human Biology and Translational Medicine from Harvard Medical School. Luhan is a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Technology Leaders Initiative of the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.