Zoltan Derdak

About Zoltan Derdak

Zoltan is a physician-scientist with research background in biochemistry, cell metabolism, mitochondrial bioenergetics, oxidative stress, and cell signaling in the context of alcoholic/metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and cancer. After graduating summa cum laude from the University of Debrecen, Medical and Health Science Center, Hungary with an M.D. degree in 2002, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Liver Research Center of Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University between 2003 and 2009. During his postdoctoral training Zoltan explored the roles of mitochondrial uncoupling proteins in MASLD, cancer chemoresistance, carcinogenesis, and liver regeneration. From 2009 to 2014, Zoltan worked as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Liver Research Center of Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University where he made seminal observations about the metabolic roles of p53 and its downstream targets in MASLD and alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Furthermore, Zoltan managed a collaboration with the Department of Chemistry at Brown to develop and patent a novel imaging technique for early liver cancer detection. Mentored numerous undergraduate and graduate students, served as a PhD co-mentor. Invited to the NIH as an ad hoc grant reviewer. After joining 1Globe Health Institute in 2015, Zoltan spearheaded GHI’s research effort to move a lead candidate for the treatment of MASLD/MASH through preclinical research studies that ultimately gained IND approval in 2019. Zoltan joined Takeda Pharmaceuticals in 2021 as an Associate Medical Director and was promoted to Medical Director in 2023. He is leading a Phase 1b clinical trial in MASH fibrosis and spearheading translational collaborations to identify and understand biomarkers in MASH. Additionally, he drives the translational and biomarker strategy for preclinical programs, designs early proof-of-concept studies in MASH and other chronic fibrotic liver diseases, such as PSC, and contributes to business development evaluations for MASH therapies. Zoltan is an author on numerous research papers, 4 patents, and deeply committed to deliver multiple drug products from bench to bedside for challenging disease indications. Update Photo or Biography

Experience

1. Medical Director

   Takeda

   Dec 2023 — Present · Cambridge, MA, US

Education

• University of Debrecen

  M.D., Medicine

  1996 — 2002

Skills

• Medical Education
• Western Blotting
• Clinical Research
• Cancer
• Cell Culture
• Internal Medicine
• Molecular Biology