About

Dr. Tien-Li Lee is Aardvark's founder and has served as its Chief Executive Officer since March 2017. He has more than 20 years of experience as a biotechnology innovator and executive involved in founding or advancing several biopharmaceutical companies. Before founding Aardvark, he was Chief Strategy Officer of NantKwest, Inc. (Nasdaq: NK) from 2013 to 2017, Director of Business Development at Simcere Pharmaceutical Group from 2011 to 2013, and co-founder and Vice President of Business Development of Onkor Pharma from 2007 to 2011. He is an inventor or co-inventor of multiple biomedical innovations. Dr. Lee received his M.D. from the University of California, San Diego and his B.A. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed post-graduate training at UCLA and UC Irvine.

Roles

Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc.
Founder, Chief Executive Officer, President & Director · Current role
March 2017–present
Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc.
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
2017 - present
NantKwest, Inc.
Chief Strategy Officer
2013 - 2017
Simcere Pharmaceutical Group
Director of Business Development
2011 - 2013
Onkor Pharma, Inc.
Co-founder & Vice President, Business Development
2007 - 2011

External Roles

Scilex Holding Company
Director
2019 - 2023

Fixed Compensation

FY 2025
Salary
$630,788
ComponentAnnual base salary earned in 2025
Total compensation
$6,066,684

Performance Compensation

Data from FY 2025

Cash incentive

Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$342,870
Target Opportunity
—
PlanAnnual performance-based cash bonus

Stock awards

Option awards
$5,093,026
FormStock options, ASC 718 grant-date fair value

Also at Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc.

Related

See how Top Bucket AI works for your firm

Request Demo
Top Bucket AI Research

Stay ahead of private markets

Research and market intelligence for private-markets professionals.

✓

You're subscribed.

Thanks for signing up.