MLA Places Ling Zeng as Dicerna Pharmaceuticals’ Chief Legal Officer and Secretary

Hanover, MD (September 23, 2020) — Major, Lindsey & Africa (MLA), the world’s leading legal search firm, today announced the placement of Ling Zeng as chief legal officer and secretary at Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in Lexington, Mass.The search was conducted by Ron Ciardiello and Nancy Reiner, both managing directors in MLA’s In-House Counsel Recruiting group in Boston.

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing medicines that are designed to leverage ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) to selectively silence genes that cause or contribute to disease. Using its proprietary RNAi technology platform called GalXC™, Dicerna is committed to developing RNAi-based therapies with the potential to treat both rare and more prevalent diseases.

In her new role as Dicerna’s chief legal officer and secretary, Ling will provide key legal, strategic, compliance and business contributions to the executive team and serve as secretary to the board of directors. She will also lead the growth and development of the legal and compliance teams, providing critical counsel and leadership to launch and commercialize pharmaceutical products while managing  other legal and compliance matters.

“It was exciting to partner with Dicerna on this highly competitive international search for its chief legal officer and secretary,” said Ron Ciardiello. “Ling is the perfect fit based on her extensive experience launching new products and negotiating complex collaboration agreements in the pharmaceutical sector while working for both large and smaller Pharma companies.” Nancy Reiner added, “Ling has an outgoing personality and approach, and we are confident that she will be an exceptionally strong addition to the Dicerna team as they prepare to bring their first drug to market.”

Ling joins Dicerna from Novartis AG in Switzerland, where she served as deputy head of legal M&A, responsible for global M&A transactions for all business units and regions. She previously served as vice president and general counsel EMEA for Bausch Health Companies, Inc. and has held legal and science research roles with other biopharma companies in the greater New York City and Boston metro areas. Ling started her legal career as a corporate associate with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton.

Ling earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, her M.S. in Biophysics from Brandeis University and her B.S. from Peking University.