Awards - Smissman Award To Bruce Maryanoff; Six inducted Into MEDI Hall Of Fame

BRUCE E. MARYANOFF, a distinguished research fellow and team leader at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, is the recipient of the 2009 Edward E. Smissman Award, which is sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb. The award is given by the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry (MEDI) to a living scientist whose research, teaching, or service has had a substantial impact on the intellectual and theoretical development of the field of medicinal chemistry. Maryanoff will receive the award during the 2009 ACS spring national meeting in Salt Lake City.

Maryanoff, an expert in drug design and drug discovery, is credited with the invention of Topamax (topiramate) for the treatment of epilepsy and migraine headaches. He has also made seminal contributions to the understanding of the stereochemistry and mechanism of the Wittig olefination reaction.

Maryanoff was inducted into the 2008 Division of Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame, which was established by MEDI in 2006 to recognize outstanding contributions to medicinal chemistry.

The other 2008 inductees are Magid Abou-Gharbia, professor of medicinal chemistry and director of Temple University's Center for Drug Discovery Research; Raymond E. Counsell, professor emeritus of pharmacology and medicinal chemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Duane D. Miller, Van Vleet Endowed Chair of the department of pharmaceutical sciences and associate dean of graduate study and research in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center; John L. Neumeyer, distinguished emeritus professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the medicinal chemistry program at the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Research Center of McLean Hospital; and Edward E. Smissman, the late University Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas.