Karen Chu

Board Member

Dr. Chu’s role as a partner in Fontus Capital and is a member of the Investment Committee in evaluating and making decisions on investment opportunity. She is also the founder and CEO of HIRO, a China-based globally oriented clinical research organization (CRO).

In her previous roles, she was the Corporate Vice President for Clinical Research Services and led the Global Clinical Operations (GCO) at PAREXEL. She was responsible for the operational delivery of study start-up, remote and on-site clinical monitoring and the overall clinical conduct for Early Phase Development and Phase II-III clinical trials.
The team of GCO was approximately 6000 employees cross 50+ countries. Prior to this role, Dr. Chu held a variety of positions at PAREXEL. She was responsible for APAC Project Leadership and Clinical Operations, Global Project Planning and Support as well as Records Management (commonly known as TMF). Also, Dr. Chu was very involved in Regulatory planning and strategy execution for multiple clinical trial development.
Dr. Chu joined PAREXEL in 2007 as part of PAREXEL’s acquisition of APEX International Clinical Research Co., Ltd. She worked at APEX starting in 2005 as the Executive Director for all operations including Project Management, Clinical Operations, Data Operations & Statistical Analysis, Medical and Regulatory Affairs.

In addition to her extensive experience with clinical trials globally, she possesses a unique understanding of the cross-border strategy and management. Dr. Chu holds both Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, College of Pharmacy.