Dr Elben has a Degree in Chemistry. He received a PhD in chemistry from the University of Bonn. He joined Hoechst in 1980 as a research scientist in the areas of rheumatology, immunology and CNS.

He became research team head for cerebrovascular and peripheral vascular diseases in 1988 having been seconded for a year to Hoechst US. In the United States, he was involved in Alzheimer dementia research.

Since 1992 he has been working as a Project Director leading development of projects in rheumatology/immunology and CNS. In his current position among other responsibilities, he extensively interacts with other pharmaceutical companies and CROs. Dr Elben has led NDA and MAA projects in collaboration with CROs in all phases of clinical research, starting from pre-clinical research through phase I to III clinical studies. He was a guest lecturer at the University of Frankfurt, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences from 1992-1993.