These annual awards are given to young investigators who have displayed impact and/or promise of impact to the field of medicinal chemistry. Learn more about this year's winners, Peter H. Fuller and H. Rachel Lagiakos.

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The Editors of Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, and the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry (MEDI) are pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 Philip S. Portoghese Journal of Medicinal Chemistry/ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters/Division of Medicinal Chemistry Joint Lectureship Awards:

  • Dr. Peter H. Fuller, Merck & Co., Inc.
  • Dr. H. Rachel Lagiakos, Schrodinger

These annual awards are named in honor of Professor Philip Portoghese, who served as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Medicinal Chemistry from 1972 to 2011. The awards are given to young investigators who have displayed impact and/or promise of impact to the field of medicinal chemistry and are presented yearly at the ACS Fall Meeting.

The awards will be presented at ACS Fall 2023 in San Francisco, from August 13-17, where the winners will each present a lecture along with other prominent researchers in the field. Join us for the award lecture as part of the MEDI Award Session on August 13 at 2pm (PDT) in the Moscone Center South building, Room 4.

Learn more about the winners and their research below.

Dr. Peter H. Fuller

Headshot of Dr. Peter H. Fuller
Peter H. Fuller

“Peter is an exceptional early career medicinal chemist that quickly rose through the ranks at Merck, and was promoted to Senior Director, Medicinal chemistry in 2022,” says Journal of Medicinal Chemistry Editor-in-Chief Craig Lindsley. “Peter’s work in the kinase field, for both oncology and CNS indications (especially LRRK2), has been exemplary and highly impactful.”

Dr. H. Rachel Lagiakos

Headshot of Dr. H. Rachel Lagiakos
H. Rachel Lagiakos

“Rachel is a thought leader at Schrodinger, where she engages in structure-based design and integrates computational tools with classical medicinal chemistry, says Journal of Medicinal Chemistry Editor-in-Chief Craig Lindsley. “Rachel has been impactful in oncology, epigenetics (e.g., MYST histone acetyltransferases), and infectious disease drug discovery, while also informing the field on computational approaches to predict Kp,uu.”

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