Jie Du   Ph.D.

President & CEO

Dr. Jie Du is a seasoned pharma executive and entrepreneur. She is one of the founders at Frontage Laboratories, which started its operations in 2001. Frontage has since grown into a multi national contract research organization (CRO), serving pharmaceutical clients in North America and Asia. After exiting her holdings at Frontage, she has been active as an angel investor of life science start-ups.  In 2008, Dr. Du founded JDP Therapeutics. She is leading JDP in becoming a significant player in pharmaceutical innovation and development.  

Dr. Du’s pharmaceutical experience extends 15 years at Abbott, Merck and Mutual pharmaceuticals. During her tenure of increasing responsibilities at these companies until 2007, she led activities in pharmaceutical product development, project management, legal/patent strategies, product portfolio management, clinical development, and regulatory areas.  Dr. Du is a brilliant initiator on pharmaceutical strategies. Two of her patents (assigned to Mutual Pharma) were licensed to King Pharmaceuticals. Prior to starting JDP Therapeutics, Dr. Du served as the Director of Scientific Affairs at Mutual Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharma company in Philadelphia.  Mainly in charge of clinical studies, she was one of the key corporate members responsible for the company’s outstanding growth from ~$50 M annual sales in 1998 to ~$600 M in 2007.

Dr. Du’s endless creativity has made her a renowned inventor of many U.S. and international patents.  Dr. Du earned her Ph.D. degree from School of Pharmacy at University of the Pacific in California.

John (Jack) M. Morrash

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Morrash is a Senior Financial Executive with over 32 years of diversified financial experience.  His last ten years have been in the capacity of Chief Financial Officer, currently serving as Sr. Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Superior Group, Inc., West Conshohocken, PA.  Mr. Morrash has extensive experience in financial analysis, planning, acquisitions and divestitures (completing over 25 transactions), international finance, product and plant rationalizations, cost accounting, management reporting, treasury and foreign exchange management.  Mr. Morrash’s international experience includes active involvement in international business operations and M&A transactions in Ireland, England, Mexico, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Brazil. Over the course of his career he has worked with manufacturing and distribution companies (primarily in turn around and restructuring situations) serving a broad base of industries, including: prescription pharmaceutical, medical/surgical, aerospace, power generation, oil and gas, automotive, material handling, and other durable goods.

Mr. Morrash was hired by Superior Group, Inc. in 2001, along with a new CEO, to return to profitability, a $700 million privately held multi-national portfolio of manufacturing and distribution companies.  In 2001, the company had 8 operating companies, 4,000 employees, operations in over 50 locations in the US and Europe and was loosing money.  By 2005 all operating companies were returned to profitability, most of which have since been successfully sold.   

Mr. Morrash is an honors graduate from The University of Scranton, where he earned a BS in Accounting in 1976.  He received his CPA certificate in the state of Pennsylvania in 1978.