Board of Directors
Prof. Jürgen Engel, Ph.D.
Dr. Jürgen Engel joined the Board of Directors in August, 2009. He is currently the President and CEO of Æterna Zentaris, where he has been since the acquisition of Zentaris in December 2002. Before joining Æterna Zentaris, he was CEO of Zentaris (a spin-off of ASTA Medica, AG) based in Frankfurt, Germany, where he was actively involved in strategic partnerships and acquisitions. At ASTA Medica, AG, Dr. Engel was in charge of all R&D activities where he supervised more than 700 scientists and clinical professionals. He successfully headed projects from drug discovery right through to New Drug Application (NDA).
Dr. Engel holds a doctorate degree in organic chemistry from the Technical University of Braunschweig and an academic degree in pharmaceutical science from the University of Regensburg where he is an adjunct full professor at its School of Pharmacy. He is also Honorary Professor at the Dresden Technical University. In 1995, he received the Galenus-von-Pergamon prize for having developed alkylphospholipids as a new class of anti-tumor agents. Dr. Engel is the author of more than 250 scientific articles, several books and he applied for more than 100 patent applications.