Richard Silverman, Patrick G. Ryan/ Aon Professor at Northwestern University; Inventor of LyricaTM
Topic: “Drug Discovery: Ingenuity or Serendipity?”
Location: President’s Hall, The Penn Stater
Introduction / Moderator: Eric Barron / Katie O’Toole
Professor Richard B. Silverman received his B.S. degree in chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University in 1968 and his Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from Harvard University in 1974 (with time off for a two-year military obligation from 1969-1971). After two years as a NIH postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of the late Professor Robert Abeles in the Graduate Department of Biochemistry at Brandeis University, he joined the chemistry faculty at Northwestern University. In 1986 he became Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology. In 2001 he became the Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence for three years, and since 2004 he has been the John Evans Professor of Chemistry.
His research can be summarized as investigations of the molecular mechanisms of action, rational design, and syntheses of potential medicinal agents acting on enzymes and receptors.
His recent awards include Arthur C. Cope Senior Scholar Award of the American Chemical Society (2003), Alumni Fellow Award from Pennsylvania State University (2008), Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame of the American Chemical Society (2009), the Perkin Medal (2009), the Hall of Fame of Central High School of Philadelphia (2011), the E.B. Hershberg Award for Important Discoveries in Medicinally Active Substances from the American Chemical Society (2011), Fellow of the American Chemical Society (2011), Sato Memorial International Award of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan (2012), Roland T. Lakey Award of Wayne State University (2013), BMS-Edward E. Smissman Award of the American Chemical Society (2013), Centenary Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2013), Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2013), Medicinal Chemistry Prize of the Israel Chemical Society (2014), iCON Innovator Award of the iBIO Institute (2014), Northwestern University Trustee Medal for Faculty Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2014), Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2014), Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2014).
Professor Silverman has published over 340 research articles, holds 62 domestic and foreign patents, and has written five books (one [The Organic Chemistry of Drug Design and Drug Action] translated into German and Chinese). He is the inventor of LyricaTM, a drug marketed by Pfizer since 2005 for epilepsy, neuropathic pain, and fibromyalgia and has completed a Phase I clinical trial of another drug for infantile spasms.
