Mid-Career Investigator Award - Past Awardees

The Division of Organic Chemistry’s Mid-Career Investigator (MCI) program recognizes scientists who are more than 10 years from graduate school or post-doctoral appointment and are a current researcher in a non-academic setting (e.g. industry, government or non-profit laboratory) who have demonstrated sustained excellence in Organic Chemistry. This program was initiated in 2021. It is a descendant of the Young Industrialists Symposium award program that was started in 2007 and is now called the Early Career Investigator (ECI) program. Below you will find the awardees and their talk titles from the various MCI symposia.

2024 Awardees

Talks will be given at the 2024 Spring ACS Meeting

  • Jean-Christophe Califano, AbbVie
  • Seb Caille, Amgen
  • Yongda Zhang, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals
  • Alaric Dyckman, Bristol Myers Squibb
  • William Gallagher, Bristol Myers Squibb
  • Gregory Beutner, Bristol Myers Squibb
  • Jeremy Wilmot, Corteva Agriscience
  • Joseph Pero, GSK
  • Steve Goldberg, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine
  • Kristi Leonard, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicines
  • Phieng Siliphaivanh, Merck & Co. Inc.
  • Alexey Makarov, Merck & Co., Inc
  • Artis Klapars, Merck & Co., Inc.
  • Kian Tan, Novartis
  • Matthew Sammons, Pfizer
  • Arjun Raghuraman, The Dow Chemical Company

2023 Awardees

Talks will be given at the 2023 Spring ACS Meeting

  • Xue (Ida) Chen, Dow.
  • Russell Cink, AbbVie.
  • Richard Fox, BMS.
  • Scott Kuduk, Janssen.
  • Angel Morales-Ramos, GSK.
  • William Morris, Merck.
  • Deborah Mortensen, BMS.
  • Julien Papillon, Novartis.
  • Matthew Ravn, AbbVie.
  • Mikhail Reibarkh, Merck.
  • Jeffrey Sperry, Vertex.
  • Scott Sutton, Pfizer.
  • Ling Tong, Merck.
  • Brandon Turunen, GSK.
  • Matthew Zajac, GSK.
  • Wenming Zhang, FMC.

2022 Awardees

Talks presented at the 2023 Spring ACS Meeting

  • Michael Ameriks, Janssen. “Identification and characterization of fused azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonanes as selective, non-covalent monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) inhibitors for the treatment of CNS disorders”
  • Simon Berritt, Pfizer. “Program enabling strategies using HTE”
  • Caroline Blakemore, Pfizer. “Driving drug discovery through synthesis”
  • Laura D’Agostino, BMS. “Identification of Small Molecule Inhibitors and Heterobifunctional Degraders of Calcium/calmodulin Dependent Protein Kinase Kinase 2 (CAMKK2)”
  • Spencer Dreher, Merck. “High throughput experimentation in medicinal chemistry”
  • Brian Hopkins, Biogen. “The development of selective kinase inhibitors to treat autoimmune disease finding a cure for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde“
  • Jeffrey Kallemeyn, AbbVie. “Application of reaction kinetics in the development of mutagenic impurity control strategies”
  • Beth Knapp-Reed, GSK. “Discovery of a selective and potent lead series for GRK2 inhibition”
  • Ivar McDonald, BMS. “Development of a P(V) method for stereocontrolled oligonucleotide synthesis”
  • Helen Mitchell, Merck. “Leveraging capabilities and resource sparing approaches in drug discovery”
  • Shashank Shekhar, AbbVie. “Highlights from the center of catalysis at Abbvie.”
  • Edward Sherer, Merck. “Championing the adoption of predictive sciences into the pharmaceutical process and development space”
  • Scott Wolkenberg, Janssen. “High-throughput chemistry accelerates the optimization of small molecule therapeutics, chemical biology probes, and protein degraders”
  • Ming Xu, FMC. “Afoxolaner: a new isooxazoline for the control of fleas and ticks on dogs by oral administration”
  • Michael Zacuto, BMS. “Preparation of α-(isoindolinone-2-yl) glutarimides: Process Development of Cereblon E3 ligase modulating drugs.”
  • Haiming Zhang, Genetech. “Development of an Atroposelective Process of KRAS G12C Inhibitor GDC-6036”

2021 Awardees

Talks presented at the 2022 Spring ACS Meeting

  • Yun Ding, GSK. “Advances in DNA-encoded library technology (ELT): From on-DNA chemistry to preclinical candidate”
  • Travis Dunn, AbbVie. “Process development in the manufacture of a Reformatsky reagent from methyl 1-bromocyclopropanecarboxylate”
  • Cameron Lee, Novartis. “Enabling ultra-long-acting biologics with synthetic chemistry”
  • Fangzheng Li, Corteva. “Process route design of structurally complex agrochemical candidates”
  • Kevin Maloney, Merck. “Scientific journey in process chemistry”
  • Mehran Jalaie, Pfizer. “Lead identifications across therapeutic areas”
  • Jennifer Riggs, BMS. “Cereblon-mediated molecular glues: Advances and future opportunities to target the undruggable proteome”
  • Oliver Thiel, Amgen. “Molecular complexity as a driver for innovation in pharmaceutical process development”