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The Executive Committee of the EFMC manages all the affairs of the EFMC and consists of seven elected members. They are assisted in their task by invited advising positions.
The EC consists of seven members: the President, the President Elect or the Past President, the Secretary, the Treasurer, and three additional members. All members of the EC, except the President and the Past President, are elected by secret ballot by the Council during a meeting of the Council. After a term of one year, the President Elect will automatically become President.
The members of the EC are not delegates of their respective countries. All details about the election process can be found in the statutes of the EFMC.
Previous composition of the EC can be found here
Dr Van Hijfte holds a PhD degree in Chemistry from Gent University (1984, Belgium) with Prof M Vandewalle, and finalized his academic training by a two-year post-doctoral stay at UCSB with Prof RD Little. He started his industrial career as a medicinal chemist at Merrell Dow in 1986 in Strasbourg, France, where he progressed to head of the medicinal chemistry by the time the site had become part of Sanofi in 1998. In 2002 he moved to Janssen, J&J, first as Research Director of their R&D site in Val de Reuil, France, before taking on the role of Senior Director, Head of Medicinal Chemistry EU, at Janssen Research & Development, with responsibility for European-based medicinal chemistry, analytical technologies, and ADMET.
During this tenure, Luc was privileged to contribute to several successful projects, with numerous programs entering into clinical development in the areas of neurosciences, oncology, and infectious diseases. In 2012 Dr Van Hijfte became CSO of NovAliX, Illkirch, France, before moving in 2017 to his actual position of Senior Director, Head of Drug Discovery at Symeres, where he oversees all activities related to integrated drug discovery activities for clients worldwide. In parallel, he has been involved in a few start-ups, the principal one being Phytodia since 2015, a Strasbourg based company valorizing scientifically plant extracts for cosmetics and nutraceutics, where he occupies the position of President.
Dr Van Hijfte has been the president of the TechnoPole Chimie-Biologie-Sante in 2004-2012, Vice-President of the French Medicinal Chemistry Society (SCT) in 2015-16, President of the SCT 2017-18, and is currently member of the Executive Committee of the EFMC as president elect. In 2018, he has been elected and named member of the “Académie Nationale de Pharmacie” in France, for his multiple contributions to pharmaceutical developments.
Gianluca Sbardella received his M.Sc. (1993) from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (Italy) and his Ph.D. (1997) from the same University. After postdoctoral stints at the Drug Chemistry Center of Italian National Research Center, Italian National Institute of Health, University of Rome "La Sapienza", University of Siena, in 2001 he joined the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Salerno, where since 2016 he is Full Professor in Medicinal Chemistry. In 2004 he spent a sabbatical period as visiting professor at the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry of UCLA in the group of M.E. Jung. In 1994 and 1998 Gianluca was awarded with the Italian Pasteur Institute “Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti” Award. In 1995 he was awarded with the Italian Federation of Chemical Industry (Federchimica) Award. In 2008 was awarded with the Farmindustria Italian National Award for Research Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry. In 2019 he received the Golden Seal of the Italian Chemical Society (Società Chimica Italiana - SCI). Starting from 2023, he is member of the Scientific Board of the SCI.
His research regards most aspects of epigenetic drug discovery, spanning synthetic strategies, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, biophysical techniques. He is Author of over 120 papers on high-impact international MedChem journals, 3 book chapters, 3 patents (PCT) and over 120 communications in international congresses, comprising 30 invited lectures.
He has been Vice Rector for International Relations (2018-2022), Coordinator of the PhD program in Drug Discovery and Development (2011-2022), and member of the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Commission (2012-2020) of the University of Salerno.
In 2017-2022 he was the National Representative for Italy in the Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI2). He is member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Chemical Probes Portal (www.chemicalprobes.org) and member of the Editorial Board of ChemMedChem.
In 2019-2021 he served as the President of the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society (Divisione di Chimica Farmaceutica della Società Chimica Italiana). He is currently the Past President.
In 2021 he joined the Executive Committee of the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology (EFMC), first as a member and, starting from 2023, as the Secretary. He is also member of two EFMC working groups, Best Practices in Medicinal Chemistry WG and Chemical Biology WG.
Prof. Zeynep Ates-Alagoz is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Ankara University, Turkey. She received her BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Ankara University and completed her postdoctoral research at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in the United States (2008–2010). She has held academic positions both in Turkey and the USA, including Adjunct Associate Professor and Research Assistant Professor roles at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.
Prof. Ates-Alagoz’s research focuses on the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of bioactive heterocyclic compounds, particularly benzimidazole, indole, phenothiazine, and thiazolidinedione derivatives. Her work spans multiple therapeutic areas, including anticancer, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and neuroprotective drug discovery.
She has authored numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles in SCI-indexed journals and contributed to several book chapters, including authoritative resources such as Remington: The Science and Practice of Pharmacy. She has delivered numerous oral and poster presentations at national and international conferences, including invited talks. She has also given lectures in multiple countries within the framework of the Erasmus Teaching Mobility program. Additionally, she has served on the scientific and organising committees of numerous international conferences. From 2015 to 2020, she served as the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Ankara University.
She has been awarded the Novartis Prize for Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry twice, in 2007 and 2011, acknowledging her significant contributions to drug discovery and medicinal chemistry. Prof. Ates-Alagoz is currently the Chair of the Turkish Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry Association. She also served as a Council Member of the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC) between 2023 and 2025.
Prof. Ates-Alagoz has been Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on multiple funded research projects supported by national agencies, demonstrating strong leadership in drug discovery–focused research initiatives. Her translational research efforts have resulted in several granted and pending patents related to novel therapeutic compounds and innovative synthetic methodologies.
Christa E. Müller completed her PhD studies at the University of Tübingen, Germany, in the field of Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry in 1988 followed by a postdoctoral stay at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. After her return to Tübingen she completed her habilitation (post-doctorate degree) and became Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Würzburg, Germany, in 1994. Since 1998 she holds a Full Professorship at the University of Bonn, Germany. From 2001-2004 and from 2010-2015 she served as a Vice-Rector of Bonn University.
Prof. Müller is Editor-in-Chief for ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science (American Chemical Society) and a member of several Scientific and Editorial Boards. She has published nearly 500 scientific papers and received a number of awards for her work including the Nauta Award for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology of the EFMC.
Her main interest is in medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology of purine binding membrane proteins (adenosine receptors, P2 purine receptors, adenine receptors and ecto-nucleotidases) as well as lipid-activated and orphan G protein-coupled receptors. Recently she has embarked on the development of coronavirus inhibitors.
Yves P. Auberson obtained his Ph.D. in 1990 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland. He joined the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research in Basel, Switzerland in 1992, after a post-doctoral training in chemical biology at Affymax in Palo Alto, USA.
He is currently Executive Director in Global Discovery Chemistry, where his research group develops tracers for clinical imaging. Previously, he was Head of Chemistry for Neuroscience, and played a leading role in the discovery and development of drug candidates for the treatment of epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and narcolepsy.
