WuXi NextCODE Appoints Baidu Veteran John Gu to Drive Growth of Genomic Data Platform in China

WuXi NextCODE, the global standard platform for genomic data,  announced the appointment of John Gu as Chief Digital Officer, leading data onboarding for the company’s growing China platform. Gu, who joins the company from digital innovation consultancy Silver Sand Technologies, was formerly chief information officer for Baidu, the leading internet service provider and search engine in China, and held successive senior technology positions at Alcatel-Lucent in Europe and the US.

“John has played a key role in the growth of world-leading technology platforms and we are thrilled to have him leading the expansion of our data strategy in China. Our aim is ambitious: to enable patients and consumers across China not only to benefit from their own genomic data but also empower them to use it to advance precision medicine for others across the country and around the world. John’s experience in organizing massive amounts of data and connecting the individuals and enterprises that generate and use it is uniquely suited to executing this vision,” Hannes Smarason, CEO, WuXi NextCODE said.

“Putting the genome to work to improve health and medicine is the biggest data opportunity in the years ahead. WuXi NextCODE’s global platform for genomic data is leading the way in realizing this opportunity, and China is at the heart of this strategy. I am very excited to put my efforts to work building this platform in China and to develop and deliver the benefits of the genome to people everywhere,” said John Gu, Chief Digital Officer, WuXi NextCODE.

As the CIO of Baidu, Gu defined the enterprise IT strategy for one of the world’s largest search engines and the leading cloud service provider in China.  In the dozen years prior, ultimately as the group CIO of Alcatel-Lucent, he led global IT functions, including IT transformation, SW development, enterprise cloud services and data management.  He also served as a management consultant at Booz Allen and PwC. Gu holds a BS in computer science and electrical engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, an MS in computer science from Loyola University, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

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