CJ (Chunjuan) Song, Ph.D.
Vice President, Head of CNS Disease Research and Pharmacology & Toxicology
Dr. CJ (Chunjuan) Song, PhD, DABT, is Vice President of CNS Disease Research and Pharmacology & Toxicology at Exegenesis Bio. CJ has been a Certified Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology since 2018 and possesses more than 10 years of experience in the gene therapy field and over 15 years in preclinical translational work.
Prior to her current role, CJ worked as a Research Director at the Gene Therapy Program (GTP), University of Pennsylvania, where she led and supervised a team of scientists working on translational research aimed at developing potential therapeutics for life-threatening diseases utilizing AAV-directed gene therapy. She had worked at Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC), where she led a team in Target Validation and In Vivo Pharmacology and Toxicology.
CJ earned a B.S. in Biology from Nankai University and a Ph.D. degree from Iowa State University with co-majors in Genetics and Neuroscience. During her doctoral studies, she delved into studying the epigenetic modifications and the cellular and molecular pathways implicated in dopaminergic cell death in Parkinson's disease models. Afterwards, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the University of Florida, where she conducted research on deciphering mechanisms and developing potential treatments for age-related macular degeneration and neuroinflammatory diseases.
Dr. Song has published over 30 peer-reviewed research articles and chapters in the field’s preeminent journals, such as Science Translational Medicine, Frontiers in Immunology, Autophagy, Hypertension, and Human Gene Therapy. She has served as an editor, guest editor, and reviewer for a list of reputable journals.