Board of Directors

Dr. Ferenc Darvas
Founder & Chairman

Dr. Ferenc Darvas is one of the true pioneers in the process intensification involved in modern chemistry. Dr. Darvas conceived the first industrialized solution-phase combinatorial synthesis technology (CMT). This was realized by ComGenex, the first European combinatorial chemistry corporation in 1992. In the mid-90's he focused to high-throughput ADME methodologies in combinatorial design, introduced combinatorial methodologies into chemical genomics, and recently, the use micro- and mesoscale flow reaction technologies for combinatorial synthesis and lead optimization when, as inventor, initiated and co-developed H-Cube®, the first bench top hydrogenator at ThalesNano, Inc.
Dr. Darvas received his first degree in organic chemistry, another in computer science, and his PhD. in the use of artificial intelligence in drug design. Dr. Darvas is co-founder of the International Society for QSAR, the Society for Biomolecular Screening (SBS), the Hungarian Chapter of the American Chemical Society and the Hungarian Biotechnology Association. He was teaching in Budapest, Barcelona, Gainesville (Florida, USA), Innsbruck and is still teaching as guest professor at Florida International University (Miami, FL, USA).

Dr. László Ürge

CEO of NanoForm Therapeutics

Dr. László Ürge is a senior executive with extensive pharmaceutical and biotech R&D/alliance and general management experience in the US and EU.  Dr. Ürge served as head of pharmaceutical development at Biorex R&D, CEO at ComGenex, VP of European Operations at AMRI, and CEO of ThalesNano Inc.  Former experience includes a senior scientist position at Neurex/Elan Corporation in Menlo Park, CA, and leadership of a development alliance with Warner Lambert.

Gábor Heltovics
CEO of Druggability Technologies

Mr. Heltovics holds Master's degrees in Biology (1995), Chemistry (1995), and Business Administration (MBA - 2003). In 1995 he won an annual postgraduate research scholarship at Oxford University to study Neuropharmacology. He started his career in Procter & Gamble Global R&D in the UK, where he worked on various research and development projects as a Senior Scientist (1996-2001). In 2001, he returned to his native country - Hungary where he has held senior management positions in Coca-Cola and European Clinical Trials Associates. In his most recent role he was the director of business development at SOLVO Biotechnology. He is the author of a number of papers and 21 patents.

Erzsébet Pálné Tari

Board Member

Erzsébet Pálné Tari was appointed as the Financial Director of ThalesNano in March 2007. She has also been the CEO of ComInnex since February 2006. Prior to this, she was a founder, a Board Member and the Controller for ComGenex between 1994 and 2006. She was  a Founder of ThalesNano in 2002 and established the financial systems of the company. Erzsébet Pálné Tari graduated from the Budapest Business School, College of Finance and Accountancy and she is a Certified Public Accountant.