Dennis A. Dougherty

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Dennis A. Dougherty
Born (1952-12-04) December 4, 1952 (age 72)
Nationality American
Alma mater Bucknell University B.S./M.S. (1974)
Princeton University Ph.D. (1978)
Yale University post-doctoral (1979)
AwardsRichard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2010)
Arthur C. Cope Award (2020)
Scientific career
Fields Chemistry
Neuroscience
Institutions Caltech
Academic advisors Kurt Mislow
Doctoral students Lisa McElwee-White

Dennis A. Dougherty (born December 4, 1952, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) is the George Grant Hoag Professor of Chemistry at California Institute of Technology. His research applies physical organic chemistry to systems of biological importance. Dougherty uses various approaches to understand of the human brain, including in vivo nonsense suppression, which incorporates unnatural amino acids into ion channels for structure-function studies.

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Education

Dougherty received his B.S. and M.S. in 1974 from Bucknell University. Subsequently, he earned his Ph.D. in 1978 under the supervision of Kurt Mislow at Princeton University and was a post-doctoral scholar in Jerome Berson's lab at Yale University in 1979.

Career

In 1979 Dougherty became a member of the Caltech faculty, earning tenure in 1985. He pioneered the investigation of the role of cation–π interactions in protein structure, molecular recognition and enzyme catalysis. [1] He is the scientific co-founder of Neurion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In 2005 he published a textbook entitled Modern Physical Organic Chemistry with co-author Eric V. Anslyn.

Dougherty is the recipient of multiple teaching awards including the Richard Badger Teaching Award (1992), the ASCIT Excellence in Teaching Award (1987 and 2000), and the Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2010). [2] [3] In 2009, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. [4]

Selected publications

Awards

Professional memberships

Personal life

He currently lives in South Pasadena with his wife Dr. Ellen Dougherty, the superintendent of the Lawndale Elementary School District. [5]

References

  1. Dougherty, D. A.; J.C. Ma (1997). "The Cation–π Interaction". Chemical Reviews. 97 (5): 1303–1324. doi:10.1021/cr9603744. PMID   11851453.
  2. "Caltech Today - Caltech". The California Institute of Technology. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  3. "Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching - Caltech Office of the Provost". Provost.caltech.edu. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  4. "72 New Members Chosen By Academy". 8.nationa.lacademies.org. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  5. "Lawndale Elementary School District". Archived from the original on 2009-08-31. Retrieved 2010-06-19.