Sandy Yao serves as our chief legal officer, overseeing the legal function supporting Biohub and all of its regional institutions. Along with a science background, Yao brings a wide range of legal and business expertise in intellectual property, licensing, technology transactions, and data privacy to support the scientific work across the Biohub.
Yao started at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) in 2021 and also currently serves as a vice president, AI, IP and Technology, heading the legal and policy work supporting AI, technology and science. Prior to joining CZI, Yao worked at LinkedIn as well as the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
Yao received her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Tsinghua University, her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT, and her law degree from Stanford Law School. She is a co-inventor of patents on high-resolution optical imaging technology using quantum dots.