David Hung, MD

Dr. Hung is Founder and CEO of Nuvation Bio. He was raised by Chinese immigrant parents and translated a lifelong passion of science and medicine into 3 successful biotech cancer companies, two going public.

Dr. Hung received an AB summa cum laude from Harvard College and MD alpha omega alpha from the University of California San Francisco.  He left an academic career as a basic science researcher and clinical oncologist when a patient of his died at the age of 28 from an aggressive form of breast cancer and he decided to develop better early diagnosis and treatment options for oncology patients such as she. His first startup, Pro Duct Health, developed an early breast cancer diagnosis technique similar in concept to a pap smear and was acquired by the world’s largest maker of Pap smears.

His second startup, Medivation, developed what is today the world’s largest prostate cancer drug, with over $6 billion in annual sales and having been used by more than 720,000 patients. Medivation was acquired by Pfizer. His third startup, Nuvation Bio, is developing next generation oncology drugs for a wide variety of particularly difficult-to-treat cancers and is on the verge of seeking FDA approval to launch a new drug for treating ROS1+ lung cancer.

A former professional violinist and pianist, Dr. Hung is passionate about music education for children and started the philanthropic Cremona Foundation, which provides funding for music programs in underprivileged communities as well as to gifted musicians embarking on a musical career.