Board of Directors

Mr. Uysal is a co-founder of ERX Pharmaceuticals and has been President, Chief Executive Officer, and a director of the Company since its inception. With a career spanning two decades, he is an experienced scientist, entrepreneur, executive, and venture capitalist across diverse technology sectors. Prior to ERX, he was the Director of New Ventures and Entrepreneurship at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia where he oversaw three programs providing capital and advisory support to entrepreneurs forming new companies based on innovative technologies – Entrepreneurship Center, Seed Fund, and Early Stage Fund. Prior to that he was also a co-founder and former President and Chief Executive Officer of Syndexa Pharmaceuticals, a Boston-based metabolic diseases therapeutics company. Mr. Uysal has worked in various capacities in the life sciences and pharmaceuticals sectors at PwC/PRTM, Precision Therapeutics, Inc., and Polaris Venture Partners. He started his professional life as a scientist at Harvard University, where he conducted biomedical research in the field of metabolic diseases and co-authored 17 original research articles. He holds an M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business and a B.A. from Brandeis University. He also attended Harvard Medical School and Harvard University where he successfully completed various advanced biomedical courses.

Dr. Bodnar is an independent pharmaceutical consultant who has been a member of the ERX Board since 2016. He served as Associate Chief of both the Cardiac Unit and the Department of Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School before moving to Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMS). During his 17 years at BMS, Dr. Bodnar had senior level responsibility in diverse areas, including R&D, strategic marketing, business development, legal, corporate strategy, and leadership of various businesses. In his current role, Dr. Bodnar provides consulting and advisory services to pharmaceutical companies on scientific, medical, legal, regulatory, strategic, and business matters.

Dr. Aronne has been a member of the ERX Board since 2021. Dr. Aronne is a leading authority on obesity and its treatment. He is the Sanford I. Weill Professor of Metabolic Research and the director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center, a state-of-the-art, multidisciplinary obesity research and treatment center in the division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at Weill Cornell Medicine. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Dr. Aronne is a founder and past chairman of the American Board of Obesity Medicine and a past president of The Obesity Society. He is a founder, board member, and senior scientific advisor for Intellihealth, a cloud-based weight management system for healthcare providers. He completed his internship and residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Jacobi Medical Center, followed by a Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Fellowship in General Internal Medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Aronne has been an investigator on more than 50 trials of obesity treatment modalities including medications, devices, and diets. He has authored more than 100 papers and book chapters on obesity, and edited the National Institutes of Health’s Practical Guide to Obesity Treatment. He served as a consultant to the VA Weight Management/Physical Activity Executive Council in the development of the MOVE! Program, the nation’s largest medically based weight control program. Dr. Aronne has won many awards, including the 2021 Clinician of the Year and 2015 Atkinson-Stern Award for Distinguished Public Service from The Obesity Society, and several for medical teaching, including the Davidoff Prize from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Elliot Hochstein Award from Weill Cornell Medical College. Since 2001, he has appeared annually in Castle-Connolly’s Top Doctors directory as a specialist in obesity and internal medicine.

Dr. Zheng has been a member of the ERX Board since 2018. She is the President of GP Capital Emerging Industry Co. Ltd., leading over 10 direct overseas investments across US and Europe, most of which are pharmaceutical companies. Before joining GP Capital, Dr. Zheng worked as a physician for nine years and in investment banking for 15 years. She was the former project manager of the investment banking department of Haitong Securities Co., Ltd., assistant general manager of the Shanghai investment bank department of Taiyang Securities Co., Ltd., managing director and deputy general manager of the investment banking department of Qilu Securities Co., Ltd., and the executive deputy general manager and managing director of the investment banking department of Huafu Securities Co., Ltd. Dr. Zheng has led a series of IPO projects, including Chang Dian Technology (the first packaging testing enterprise in China), Da Gang Joint-stock Company, Xin Peng Industry Ltd. (the first professional sheet metal IPO in China), Bao Tong Belt Industry Ltd., NGS Real Estate, Jiangsu Sfere Electric Co. Ltd., among others. She presided over the audit and investment decision-making of more than 10 projects when she took a dual role in the first investment decision-making committee of Qilu Securities Direct Investment Corporation. She received a Bachelor of Clinical Medicine from Fudan University’s School of Medicine, and an MBA from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Dr. Popescu has been a member of the ERX Board since 2020.