He will receive the 2001 Earle B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management from the American Chemical Society at its 221st national meeting in San Diego. As vice president for chemical sciences at Wyeth-Ayerst Research, a division of American Home Products, he oversees chemistry research at laboratory centers in New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. That work led to the drug Effexor , for example, which first came to market in 1995. In depression, levels of two messenger molecules in the brain are abnormally low. Effexor blocks re-uptake of serotonin and norepinephrine, which means once neurons release them to transmit a signal they stay active longer.
Patients feel better quickly, with fewer side effects.
His research team also works to discover new agents to treat stroke, high blood pressure, cancer, infections and other diseases. For example, a yearly banquet he set up to honor Wyeth-Ayerst chemists whose work led to patents has now been adopted by other research teams in the company, he said. He is a member of the ACS organic and medicinal chemistry divisions.