Samuel Danishefsky Receives NAS Award

Samuel J. Danishefsky, who is the Eugene W. Kettering Chair and director of the Laboratory for Bioorganic Chemistry of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and professor of chemistry at Columbia University, has received the National Academy of Science's (NAS) Award in Chemical Sciences. The medal and prize of $15,000 is awarded annually for innovative research in the chemical sciences that, in the broadest sense, contributes to the better understanding of the natural sciences and to the benefit of humanity.

The award recognizes Danishefsky's wide-ranging accomplishments in natural products total synthesis and his pioneering chemical synthesis of carbohydrates for the development of anticancer vaccines.

He was among 15 individuals honored by NAS with outstanding scientific achievement awards. The awards will be presented on April 23 at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., during the academy's 143rd annual meeting.