Endre A. Balazs

DR. ENDRE A. BALAZS is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific
Officer of Biomatrix, Inc. and the Malcolm P. Aldrich Professor Emeritus
of Ophthalmology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and
Surgeons (New York). He received his medical degree from the University
of Budapest (Hungary) where he also started his research career. He
continued his research for four years at the Karolinska Institute in
Stockholm, after which he moved to the US and accepted a position at the
Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard University, where his research
interests included the structure and function of the intercellular
matrix and glycosaminoglycans, as well as the effect of hyaluronan,
heparin and other polysaccharides on cellular growth and
differentiation. In 1970, Dr. Balazs co-founded the Retina Foundation
and the Boston Biomedical Research Institute (Boston, MA), where his
research led to the discovery of the broad therapeutic uses of
elastoviscous solutions of hyaluronan. He co-founded Biomatrix, Inc. in
1981 to develop cross-linked hyaluronan derivatives (hylans) for medical
applications and for skin care. He has published more than 300
scientific articles, books and patents.