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PDDI Drug Discovery Award Recipients
 
   William J. Greenlee, Ph.D. (2011)

Dr. Greenlee earned his B.S. degree in chemistry at The Ohio State University, where he carried out research with Prof. Paul Gassman.  He conducted graduate studies on total synthesis with Prof. Robert B. Woodward at Harvard University and received his Ph.D. degree in 1976.  After a stint as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University with Prof. Gilbert Stork, Dr. Greenlee joined Merck Research Laboratories where he was part of the Merck team that discovered potent inhibitors of angiotensin-converting enzyme, including enalapril (Vasotec®) and lisinopril (Prinivil®). Greenlee and coworkers identified several potent angiotensin AT1 receptor antagonists, including MK-996; devised the first potent dual AT1/AT2 antagonists; and discovered orally bioavailable endothelin receptor antagonists.  In 1995, Dr. Greenlee joined the Schering-Plough Research Institute (SP) as Senior Director, Cardiovascular and CNS Chemical Research.  At Schering-Plough, he directed a group of 80 chemists in the design and synthesis of potential drug candidates for treating Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, obesity, thrombosis, and chronic pain, which led to six development candidates that entered human clinical trials.  He is now back in Merck following the Merck-SP merger.  He is an author on over 200 scientific publications and an inventor of over 70 U.S. patents.  Dr. Greenlee received the prestigious Alfred Burger Award in Medicinal Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 2004; he was elected to the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame in 2006 and to ACS Fellow in 2009 (inaugural class).  Dr. Greenlee has been very active for many years in serving the scientific community.  He chaired the Gordon Research Conference on Medicinal Chemistry in 1997, has served as Chair for the ACS Divisions of Medicinal Chemistry (2003) and Organic Chemistry (2004), and chaired the 42nd National Organic Symposium of the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry, which occurred at Princeton University in 2011.  He served as a Section Editor for Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry and is Perspectives Editor for the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
 

   John (Jack) J. Baldwin, Ph.D. (2012)

Dr. John J. Baldwin received a B.S. degree in chemistry in 1956 from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from the University of Minnesota.  After graduation, he spent the next 50 years focused on drug discovery and new technologies for increasing the efficiency of the discovery process.  During his 30-year career at Merck Research Laboratories, Dr. Baldwin made important contributions to the discovery and development of Trusopt® and Cosopt®, for treating glaucoma, Aggrastat®, a parenteral antithrombotic agent; Crixivan®, a HIV protease inhibitor for treating AIDS; Edecrin®, a diuretic for treating hypertension and edema; and Pepcid®, a histamine H2-receptor blocker for peptic ulcer disease.  Dr. Baldwin next became a founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Pharmacopeia, Inc., where he pioneered the integration of combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening into the drug discovery process.  In 2001, Dr. Baldwin co-founded Vitae Pharmaceuticals, where he served as President and Chief Scientific Officer, and successfully integrated rational drug design strategies with medicinal chemistry.  By using protein-ligand complexes, via X-ray structures and molecular modeling, inhibitors of renin and 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase were identified and advanced into human clinical studies.  Dr. Baldwin was early to recognize the drug discovery assets available in China.  He was a founder of WuXi PharmaTech in Shanghai and served on its Board of Directors, and recently became a founder and board member for Hua Medicine, in Shanghai.  Dr. Baldwin is on several other corporate and academic boards.  He has published over 125 scientific articles, has lectured at more than 125 national and international symposiums, and is an inventor on over 240 issued U.S. patents.   In recognition for his accomplishments, he has received the prestigious E. B. Hershberg Award for Important Discoveries in Medically Active Substance from the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Philadelphia ACS Section Award. Dr. Baldwin was inducted into the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Division (MEDI) Hall of Fame.


     Jonathan Chernoff, M.D., Ph.D. (2013)Dr. Chernoff received M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY.  His research work has involved study of the process of neoplastic transformation, which can conceptually be divided into two components, proliferative transformation and morphologic transformation.   Proliferative transformation refers to the ability of transformed cells to bypass growth suppression signals, dividing when normal cells would not, and morphologic transformation refers to loss of normal cytoskeletal architecture, which is often accompanied by decreased adhesion and increased invasion of surrounding tissues.  These two fundamental properties have been dissected apart through the use of mutant oncogenes and abnormal signaling molecules.  He was Vice-Chair/Chair, Gordon Research Conference “Mechanisms of Cell Signaling”, is a Member of the Faculty of 1000, and was a Dozer Lecturer at Ben Gurion University.