Our Team at
Aardvark Therapeutics
Tien Lee, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Tien Lee, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Lee has 20 years of experience as a biotechnology innovator and executive who has been integrally involved with the founding or advancement of several biopharmaceutical companies. Since 2017, Dr Lee has been the founder/CEO of Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to this, Dr. Lee joined Nantkwest in 2014 and served as its Chief Strategy Officer until March, 2017. His experience includes therapeutics for immunology, cardiovascular, oncology, neurology, and infectious disease indications. Dr. Lee is also an inventor or co-inventor of multiple biomedical and biotechnology innovations, licensed or assigned to several companies for development including Nantkwest, Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, Cellics Therapeutics, and Aardvark Therapeutics. Dr. Lee earned his M.D. degree from UC San Diego and his B.A. degree from UC Berkeley in Molecular Biology where he was also a Regents and Alumni Scholar. Dr. Lee received post-graduate training in Internal Medicine through UC Los Angeles and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at UC Irvine.
Andreas Niethammer, M.D., PhD.
Chief Medical Officer
Andreas Niethammer, M.D., PhD.
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Niethammer is the Chief Medical Officer of Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc.. Recently, he headed the Translational Medicine Team at Fate Therapeutics (Nasdaq: FATE) after serving as Chief Medical Officer of NantKwest, Inc. (Nasdaq: NK). He formerly held several executive positions, among others at Pfizer Inc and Lilly Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Niethammer is an inventor of several biomedical innovations in the field of Immunology and founded Vaximm AG in 2008 based on his inventions. Dr. Niethammer earned his M.D. degree and his board certification in Radiation Oncology from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Dr. Niethammer received post-graduate training at the SCRIPPS Research Institute, La Jolla. He remains on the faculty in Heidelberg as Associate Professor.
Bruce Beutler, M.D.
Chief Scientific Advisor
Bruce Beutler, M.D.
Chief Scientific Advisor
Dr. Beutler is a Regental Professor and Director of the Center for Genetics of Host defense at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. He is an internationally recognized leader in immunology and mammalian genetics. Early in his career he isolated tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and discovered its important role in inflammation. He then invented recombinant TNF inhibitors which found clinical uses in the treatment of millions of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, and were among the top-selling drugs of all time. Beutler also discovered the receptor for bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) through a genetic approach, known as positional cloning. This latter work, which earned him a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2011), led to a broad understanding of how all mammals detect infection and initiate an immune response. Beutler has been prolific in his use of random germline mutagenesis to create new phenotypes in mice: often new diseases of metabolism, immunity, or behavioral function with equivalent human diseases. By finding the mutations—once a difficult task—he and his team discovered many proteins with essential functions in maintaining human health. During the past ten years, Beutler and his laboratory invented a means of finding mutations that cause disease—or alternatively, alleviate it—instantaneously. Known as automated meiotic mapping (AMM), this technology is a remarkable tool for identifying drug targets, applicable to most diseases.
Bryan Jones, PhD.
Chief Operating Officer
Bryan Jones, PhD.
Chief Operating Officer
Bryan Jones, PhD. has more than 30 years of experience with Biotech and Specialty Pharmaceutical companies with roles in both Product and Business development. Prior to joining Aardvark, he was COO and Co-Founder of Sollis Therapeutics where he led the technology transfer from Medtronic, the manufacturing of a drug/device combination and the execution of the Phase 3 Sciatica program. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Operations at Sorrento Therapeutics where he led the Resiniferatoxin program, including manufacturing, toxicology and clinical planning as well as being involved in both monoclonal antibody production, ADC research and cell therapy development. He has held roles of increasing responsibility including Chief Operating Officer of two startup companies: Sherrington and Mt. Cook. He has worked in Business Development at Amylin, and Kemia. Earlier in his career, he worked in research at Bristol-Myers Squibb and on products such as Cialis® with ICOS. Dr. Jones received his PhD. in Genetics from the University of Washington and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Biochemistry from Iowa State University.
Nelson Sun, M.B.A.
Chief Financial Officer
Nelson Sun, M.B.A.
Chief Financial Officer
Nelson Sun is the Chief Financial Officer of Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to joining Aardvark, Mr. Sun served as an Operating Partner at Dubilier & Company and as a Vice President at Valor Equity Partners. Mr. Sun holds an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School and an MA in International Studies from the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.
Zhenhuan Zheng, PhD.
Chief Research Officer
Zhenhuan Zheng, PhD.
Chief Research Officer
Dr. Zheng is the Chief Research Officer of Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to joining Aardvark Therapeutics, Dr. Zheng served as Senior Manager, Scientific Affairs of NantKwest, Inc. from Apr 2016 to Jun 2017. Previously, Dr. Zheng served as Manager of Business Development for Simcere Pharmaceutical Group from 2009 to 2012 and earned his PhD. degree from Tsinghua University.
Anjuli Timmer, PhD.
Chief Development Officer
Anjuli Timmer, PhD.
Chief Development Officer
Dr. Timmer is the Chief Development Officer of Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to joining Aardvark, she served as Preclinical and Clinical Program Director at NantKwest Inc. where she was involved in the research and development of targeted natural killer cell therapeutics. Previously, Dr. Timmer was a Senior Scientist and Project Manager at Tanabe Research Laboratories, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharmaceutical Corp. At Tanabe she worked on antibody generation, engineering, oncology, and immunology projects. Dr. Timmer has co-authored several patents and numerous publications throughout her career as a scientist. Dr. Timmer received her PhD. in Molecular Pathology from the University of California, San Diego and her B.S. in Biology from the University of New Hampshire.
Dvorit Samid, PhD.
EVP of Medical Affairs
Dvorit Samid, PhD.
EVP of Medical Affairs
Dr. Samid joined Aardvark in 2020, bringing over 3 decades of experience in taking novel drugs from discovery, through clinical development and commercialization. Prior to joining Aardvark, Dr. Samid lead Medical Affairs of other pharmaceutical companies including Hoffman-La Roche, ImClone/Lilly, Abraxis, and NantKwest. She served also as Associate Professor at the University of Virginia’s Medical School and as Section Chief at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Samid holds 19 patents and has published over 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Jeffrey Chi, PhD., CFA
Dr. Jeffrey Chi is a veteran in the venture capital industry and a strong advocate for the promotion of venture capital, entrepreneurship & socially responsible investing.Dr. Chi co-founded Vickers Venture Partners in 2005 is currently its Vice Chairman for Asia and a member of its Investment Committee. He is also former Chairman and currently Ambassador of the Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association. Dr. Chi also sits on board of SEEDS Capital (Investment arm of Enterprise Singapore) and on the advisory panels of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, A*ccelerate, the commercialization arm of A*Star and the National University of Singapore Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management.Based out of Shanghai, Dr. Chi heads Vickers Venture’s investments in Asia and has investments in artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, education, healthcare/wellness and financial services (including fintech) technology companies.Dr Chi’s wealth of experience include investment banking (Partner at Pegasus Capital), strategy consulting (senior consultant at Monitor Deloitte) and operations (Managing Director of Spandeck Engineering SEA). Dr. Chi is a CFA Charter holder and graduated from Cambridge University with 1st Class Honours in Engineering. He earned his PhD. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in organizational knowledge and information technology.
Zachary Hornby, M.S, M.B.A.
Zachary (“Zach”) Hornby has served in executive and director roles for multiple private and public biotechnology companies and is currently Chief Executive Officer, President, and a Director of Boundless Bio. Prior to joining Boundless Bio, Zach was Chief Executive Officer, President and a Director at Optera Therapeutics Corp, a company that was developing multiple clinical-stage cellular therapies that had been innovated at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Before that, he was Chief Operating Officer at Ignyta, where he oversaw development of the company’s portfolio of four clinical stage therapeutics and was the team leader for the company’s lead program, entrectinib (RozlytrekTM), which was the first drug in pharmaceutical history to garner the coveted BTD (FDA), PRIME (EMA) and Sakigake (PMDA) designations. In that role, he also led the business development process that resulted in Ignyta’s acquisition by Roche for $2 billion; after the Roche acquisition, Zach served as the Ignyta site head where he was responsible for overseeing the integration into Roche. Before assuming the COO role, Zach was Ignyta’s Chief Financial Officer, helping the company go public and raise $120 million in capital. Prior to joining Ignyta, Zach served in roles of increasing responsibility across business development, marketing, new product planning, finance, and regulatory affairs at Fate Therapeutics, Halozyme Therapeutics, Neurocrine Biosciences and Transkaryotic Therapeutics (“TKT;” now the Human Genetic Therapies division within Takeda/Shire) and was a life sciences consultant at L.E.K. Consulting.
Zach holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology, with a concentration in neuroscience, from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Zach holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology, with a concentration in neuroscience, from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Jerel Banks, M.D., PhD.
Jerel A. Banks, M.D., PhD. is the founder and general partner of a private, family office-backed, healthcare-focused investment fund. Prior to founding the fund, Dr. Banks served as vice president, portfolio manager for the Franklin Biotechnology Discovery Fund at Franklin Templeton Investments. Previously, he worked as a senior equity research analyst covering the biotechnology sector at Sectoral Asset Management Inc. and Apothecary Capital. Dr. Banks began his investment career as an equity research associate on the healthcare investment team at Capital Research and Management, the investment manager for the American Funds family of mutual funds. Dr. Banks earned an M.D. from the Brown University School of Medicine, a PhD. in Organic Chemistry from Brown University, and he holds an A.B. in Chemistry from Princeton University.
Steve Moon, PhD.
Steve Moon, PhD is a Partner of Premier Partners and Head of the Bio Division. Prior to joining Premier Partners, Dr. Moon worked as a researcher at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology and invested in life-science and IT startups at Hyundai Venture Investment. He received a BS in Fiber and Polymer Science of College of Engineering from Seoul National University, an MS in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Macromolecular Science and Engineering from University of Michigan, and an MBA from University of Cambridge.
Tien Lee, M.D.
Dr. Lee has 20 years of experience as a biotechnology innovator and executive who has been integrally involved with the founding or advancement of several biopharmaceutical companies. Since 2017, Dr Lee has been the founder/CEO of Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to this, Dr. Lee joined Nantkwest in 2014 and served as its Chief Strategy Officer until March, 2017. His experience includes therapeutics for immunology, cardiovascular, oncology, neurology, and infectious disease indications. Dr. Lee is also an inventor or co-inventor of multiple biomedical and biotechnology innovations, licensed or assigned to several companies for development including Nantkwest, Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, Cellics Therapeutics, and Aardvark Therapeutics. Dr. Lee earned his M.D. degree from UC San Diego and his B.A. degree from UC Berkeley in Molecular Biology where he was also a Regents and Alumni Scholar. Dr. Lee received post-graduate training in Internal Medicine through UC Los Angeles and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at UC Irvine.
Sheila Gujrathi, M.D.
Dr. Gujrathi is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gossamer Bio. Prior to joining Gossamer Bio, Dr. Gujrathi served as Chief Medical Officer of Receptors, Inc. from June 2011 until the company’s acquisition by Celgene Corporation in August 2015. Prior to joining Receptors, she was Vice President of the Global Clinical Research Group in Immunology at Bristol Myers Squibb from 2008 to 2011. Dr. Gujrathi worked at Genentech from 2002 to 2008 where she held roles of increasing responsibility in the Immunology, Tissue Growth and Repair clinical development group and served as the Avastin Franchise Team Leader. From 1999 to 2002, Dr. Gujrathi was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in the healthcare practice where she provided strategic advice on a variety of projects in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Gujrathi received her B.S. with highest distinction in Biomedical Engineering and M.D. from Northwestern University in their accelerated Honors Program in Medical Education. She completed her Internal Medicine Internship and Residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She received additional training at University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University in their Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program.
Ralph DeFronzo, M.D.
Ralph A. DeFronzo, MD, is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Diabetes Division at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the Deputy Director of the Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, Texas. His major interests focus on the pathogenesis and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus and the central role of insulin resistance in the metabolic-cardiovascular cluster of disorders known collectively as the Insulin Resistance Syndrome. For his work in this area, Dr. DeFronzo has received many national and international awards including the Banting Award from the ADA (2008), the Claude Bernard Award from the EASD (2008) and most recently, Dr. DeFronzo received the Hamm International Prize (2017). These represent the highest scientific achievement awards given by the American and European Diabetes Associations, respectively. With more than 800 articles published in peer-reviewed medical journals, Dr. DeFronzo is a distinguished clinician, teacher, and investigator who has been an invited speaker at major national and international conferences on diabetes mellitus.
Rohit Loomba, M.D., MHSc
Dr. Rohit Loomba is a Professor of Medicine, Director of Hepatology and Vice Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology at University of California at San Diego. He is an internationally recognized thought leader in the management of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and has established a thriving and vibrant center for clinical care and research in NAFLD at UCSD.
Dr. Loomba is the founding director of the UCSD NAFLD Research Center. Along with his collaborators, he has led several innovative applications such as the establishment of MRI-PDFF as a non-invasive biomarker of treatment response in early phase trials in NASH, which has now been adopted in more than 50 clinical trials conducted worldwide. In addition, Dr. Loomba served as the Chair of the NAFLD, Special Interest Group of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and is currently an elected member to the National Board of Directors of the American Liver Foundation and the American Society of Clinical Investigation
Dr. Loomba has published more than 300 manuscripts and has an H-index of 94. He is among the top 1% of the globally highly cited scientists across all fields in 2019 and 2020 by Web of Science. He served as the Deputy Editor of HEPATOLOGY, the official journal of the AASLD, from 2017-2021, and continues to serve on the Editorial Board of Gastroenterology, Journal of Hepatology, GUT and Nature Reviews in Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
UCSD Gastroenterology and Hepatology was listed as the number 1 research and education program in the World by the US World News ranking in 2021.
UCSD Gastroenterology and Hepatology was listed as the number 1 research and education program in the World by the US World News ranking in 2021.
Stephen V. Faraone, Ph.D
Professor. Faraone is Distinguished Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University. He is also Senior Scientific Advisor to the Research Program Pediatric Psychopharmacology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Prof. Faraone is Editor for the journal Neuropsychiatric Genetics, and heads the educational website www.adhdinadults.com. In 2021, Prof. Faraone was recognized as the top-rated expert in ADHD, worldwide (https://bit.ly/3j9n8w2).
Prof. Faraone was inducted in 2002 into the CHADD Hall of Fame in recognition of outstanding achievement in medicine and education research on attention disorders. He is also the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities from the State University of New York, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics and the Paul Hoch Award from the American Psychopathological Association.
Kim Janda, PhD.
Dr. Janda has been the Ely R. Callaway, Jr. Chaired Professor in the Departments of Chemistry, Immunology and Microbial Science at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) since 1996. Dr. Janda has been the Director of the Worm Institute of Research and Medicine (WIRM) at The Scripps Research Institute since 2005. He has served as an Associate Professor/Skaggs Scholar within the Skaggs Institute of Chemical Biology, also at The Scripps Research Institute, since 1996. Over a career of almost 25 years, Dr. Janda has provided numerous seminal contributions and is considered one of the first scientists to merge chemical and biological approaches into a cohesive research program. He has been a
Director of Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. since April 15, 2012. He serves as Member of Scientific Advisory Board of Medisyn Technologies, Inc. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Singapore Ministry of Education (“MOE”), EP1 Physical Sciences. He was a Scientific Advisor of Materia, Inc. He has published over 425 original publications in peer-reviewed journals and founded the biotechnological companies CombiChem, Drug Abuse Sciences, and AIPartia. Dr. Janda received B.S. degree in Clinical Chemistry from University of South Florida in 1980 and M.S. from University of Arizona in 1983. He holds PhD./doctoral degree from the University of Arizona with Robert B. Bates in natural product total synthesis in 1984.
Larry Cheskin, M.D.
Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD, FACP, FTOS directed the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, a multidisciplinary clinical research and treatment program that he founded in 1990. Dr. Cheskin is Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, Interim Chair of the Department of Global and Community Health, Co-Principal Investigator of the Mason Cohort: Health Starts Here study, and Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He received his medical degree from Dartmouth, and postdoctoral training at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He has written over 200 peer-reviewed publications, 6 books, and is frequently cited in the media on issues related to obesity, nutrition, and dieting.
Jerold Chun, M.D., PhD.
Dr. Chun is currently professor and the senior vice president of Neuroscience Drug Discovery at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, with over 27 years of experience in academia and industry. He currently leads a team of 25 researchers in the study of genomic mosaicism (DNA sequence variation in brain cells) and lysophospholipid receptor signaling to understand and develop drug treatments for brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and hydrocephalus. Dr. Chun previously held professorships at The Scripps Research Institute, the University Of California San Diego School Of Medicine, and also headed the Department of Molecular Neuroscience at Merck Research Laboratories. Dr. Chun has published ~300 scientific articles and three patents. He received M.D. and PhD. (Neuroscience) degrees through the Medical Scientist Training Program at Stanford University School of Medicine, and was a Helen Hay Whitney Fellow at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research/MIT.
