Ge Li ( Chinese: 李革) is a

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of WuXi AppTec, a contract pharmaceutical research firm. He is one of the richest men in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and the United States.

Career

Ge Li was born in China. He graduated from Affiliated High School of Peking University and received his B.A. from

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

in 1989 and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Columbia University in 1994. At Columbia, Li was mentored by

W. Clark Still William Clark Still (born 1946) is an American organic chemistry, organic chemist. As a distinguished professor at Columbia University, Clark Still made significant contributions to the field of organic chemistry, particularly in the areas of na ...

and

Koji Nakanishi was a Japanese chemist who studied bioorganic chemistry and natural products. He served as Centennial Professor of Chemistry and chair of the Chemistry Department at Columbia University. Early life Nakanishi was born in Hong Kong on May 11, 192 ...

. He worked for

Pharmacopeia, Inc. Pharmacopeia was a public biotechnology company that pioneered the field of small molecule combinatorial chemistry. Pharmacopeia was founded by Larry Bock and Drs. Michael Wigler, Clark Still and Jack Chabala. Pharmacopeia went public in 1 ...

and was sent to China to form a joint business venture on behalf of the company. Inspired by the visit, Li quit the company and co-founded WuXi AppTec with his wife, Ning Zhao, in Shanghai in 2000. The company was listed in New York Stock Exchange before going public in Hong Kong in 2018. In 2011, Li was named a member of the Committee of One Hundred. As of 2022, his net worth stands at $10 billion, making him one of the richest men in

and the United States. He is also the second richest American pharmaceutical businessperson as of 2020. He is also named one of the top ten Chinese CEOs by ''Forbes'' ''China''.

Philanthropic activities

In 2018, Li and Zhao donated RMB 100 million to Peking University to set up the Li Ge-Zhao Ning Education Fund of Peking University and were named the university's honorary trustees. In 2020, the couple donated $21.5 million to Columbia to advance research and teaching in chemistry. In 2021, the couple donated $20 million to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to support lung cancer research.

Personal life and family

Li is married to Ning Zhao, his classmate at Peking University and senior vice president and global head of human resources at WuXi AppTec. He owns residences in

220 Central Park South 220 Central Park South is a residential skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, situated along Billionaires' Row on the south side of Central Park South between Broadway and Seventh Avenue. 220 Central Park South was designed by Rob ...

, New York City and

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Ge Living people Peking University alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni American billionaires Chinese billionaires American people of Chinese descent American philanthropists American company founders Chinese company founders Businesspeople in the pharmaceutical industry Year of birth missing (living people)