TAROS DISCOVERY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Managing Director
Alex received his Ph.D. from the University of Göttingen in the field of total synthesis of natural compounds in 1999. He joined Taros in 2000 as the Head of Laboratory involved in medicinal chemistry projects and scaffold synthesis. Along with his work as representative for scientific issues at Taros he developed TarosGate®, a unique project management and electronic lab journal software that covers all chemistry and administrative aspects regarding synthesis campaigns. Alex was promoted to COO of Taros in 2004.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Founder
Dimitrios holds a PhD from the University of California, San Diego, a M.Sc. in Chemistry from University of Chicago, and a M.Sc. in Biology from Ball State University, Muncie, USA. After a postdoc at the Philips University Marburg, Germany, he founded Taros in 1999 and has since been active as a serial biotech entrepreneur. As a Project Executive and Head of Chemistry, he led the chemistry activities of the EUR 196 million drug discovery platform "European Lead Factory" (ELF). Dimitrios is the author of more than 15 publications and holds 4 patents.
Prof. Kleemann served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the German Research Center for Biotechnology (Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung GBF, Braunschweig) from 1993 to 2000. From 1987 to 2000 he served as Executive Board member of ASTA Medica AG. He has held active Board Member positions in various organizations and scientific societies, including the German Chemist´s Society (GDCh), the German Pharmaceutical Society (DPhG), the German Industrial Association of Biotechnology (DIB) and the German Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (DECHEMA).
He currently holds the position of Honorary Professor of Chemistry at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main as well as member or Chairman of Supervisory or Scientific Advisory Boards in several Biotechnology and Fine Chemicals companies. Axel Kleemann is also a member of the Editorial Board of "Ullmanns Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry".
Job Titles:
- Managing Director at the Max - Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology
Herbert Waldmann studied Chemistry and completed his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1985. During the next two years he worked as postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, USA. In 1991 he qualified as professor at the University of Mainz. Shortly thereafter he was appointed professor of organic chemistry at the University of Bonn. In 1993 he became professor of organic chemistry at the University of Karlsruhe.
Since 1999 he has headed the Department of Chemical Biology at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology and, concurrently, has also held the position of professor of biochemistry at the Technische Universität Dortmund. He has been awarded numerous academic distinctions for his work, including the Otto Bayer Prize and the Max Bergmann Medal.
Youri holds a dual degree in business administration from both the European School of Business (ESB) in Reutlingen and the Centre d'Etudes Supérieures Européennes de Management (CESEM) in Reims and joined Taros in 2011. Since 1993, he has served in several management positions across industries with focus on General Management, Finance, Business Development and Marketing with companies Mercedes-Benz, NSM-Löwen and Arvato-Bertelsmann. During the early 2000s, Youri co-funded and successfully managed an IT company focusing on web software. With his strong commercial background, Youri complements the scientific expertise of Dimitrios and Alex.