The Novitas Team

Qingsheng (Ching) Zhu

Partner

Door way to investment Dr. Zhu joined Novitas Capital in June 2004. He manages the firm's Pittsburgh office and focuses on Life Sciences investments in the Greater Pittsburgh region.

Dr. Zhu came to Novitas after a ten-year career at Guidant Corporation where he was extensively involved in research and development of cardiovascular medical products. At Guidant, his latest position was as Program Manager of Emerging Therapy Research and, in that role, was responsible for long-range strategic planning and the development of emerging device solutions for treatment of heart failure. He initiated a number of research programs including pacing for post-MI, biological therapies for myocardium regeneration, and neurostimulation for heart failure.

Dr. Zhu is the inventor of the automatic capture pacemaker function that is currently being marketed worldwide in Guidant's most advanced pacemaker device called Insignia™ Ultra. He also participated in the late stage research development and market launch of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy, one of the fastest adopted medical device therapies in the world. Dr. Zhu has invented or co-invented nearly 100 device-based medical solutions, of which 32 have already been patented in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, 53 applications (as of August 15th 2004) are published, and a number of other applications are currently pending.

Dr. Zhu received a B.Sc. in Physics/Electronics from East China Normal University in Shanghai, an M.Sc. degree in Biomedical Engineering from University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Instrumentation from Oxford Brookes University in England. Following his graduate studies, he continued his biomedical engineering research as a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow in England before joining Guidant Corporation as a senior research scientist in 1994. Dr. Zhu also received an MBA from University of Minnesota in 2003.