László Kürti was born and raised in Hungary. He received his diploma from the University of Debrecen, Hungary, where he conducted research in the laboratory of Professor Sándor Antus. Subsequently he received his Master of Science degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia working with Professor Michael Harmata, and his Ph.D. degree (2006) in synthetic organic chemistry under the supervision of Professor Amos B. Smith III (the University of Pennsylvania). Currently he is a Damon Runyon Cancer Fellow in the group of Professor E.J. Corey at Harvard University. In 2005 he published with Barbara Czakó the textbook Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis.