Joanna Wu, PhD

Joanna Wu, PhD
Associate Director
​Colgate-Palmolive Company

Joanna Wu, Ph.D. in Chemistry, is an Associate Director in the Research & Innovation group, Personal Care category of Colgate Palmolive Company. After three years of postdoctoral training at the Chemistry Department in Princeton University, Joanna joined Colgate in 2002 and worked on delivering moisturization benefits through rinsing off consumer products. In the past 10 years, she has led the Biofunctional Active Research Team responsible for identifying and developing new biofunctional active leads and technologies for skincare and cleansing products. With almost 20 years of experience in the personal care consumer product industry, Joanna has led the team to develop innovative technologies in several important areas such as anti-aging, boost skin immunity, and anti-inflammatory which is slated for new product launches. In addition, has led the team identifying new biological targets/mechanisms of an active and developing new predictive models that have provided excellent new ways to both understand MOA as well as deliver new claims and support. The frequent external engagement, such as papers, posters, and Sales teams meetings with KOL’s further illustrates the positive impact that she and her team are making. Joanna authored 20+ peer-reviewed journal publications, holds 4 granted patents, 10 patent-pending applications, and 60 Invention Records. Joanna was the 2 times winner of Colgate’s Global Chairman's You Can Make A Difference Award and was awarded Colgate Global Technology Excellence Award in 2019.