Ying Zhang, Ph.D., is Vice President of Discovery at X-Chem, where she has helped shape the company’s discovery and library strategy since December 2010. She brings more than 20 years of experience in discovery chemistry, with deep expertise in the design and synthesis of compound libraries for early-stage drug discovery.

At X-Chem, Ying leads discovery efforts with a focus on library strategy, chemical diversity, and the generation of high-quality starting points that support downstream decision-making. Her work has contributed to numerous discovery programs across a broad range of targets.

Prior to X-Chem, Ying worked in lead discovery at Merck Research Laboratories (formerly SPRI–Cambridge, Schering-Plough), where she managed the design and synthesis of library compounds for the Automated Ligand Identification System (ALIS) platform and participated in multiple lead discovery programs. Earlier in her career, she served as Senior Investigator II at ArQule, where she managed the compound file enrichment program supporting the Pfizer–ArQule collaboration.

Ying earned her B.S. in chemistry from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from The George Washington University. She completed postdoctoral training in medicinal chemistry at the National Institutes of Health.