ACS Award for Computers in Chemical & Pharmaceutical Research: Yvonne C. Martin

Sponsor: ACS Division of Computers in Chemistry

Citation: For leading the field through creative additions, thoughtful application, and enthusiastic promotion of the tools of computer-aided drug design.

Current position: retired from Abbott Laboratories; volunteer with the Neglected Diseases Project, AbbVie

Education: B.A., chemistry and zoology, Carleton College; Ph.D., chemistry, Northwestern University

Martin on what gets her creative juices flowing: “On the computational side, a persistent unfilled need in our resources, until an unexpected insight comes from a seminar or journal article on a totally different subject or from a chance discussion with a scientist in a related but different area. Alternatively, a deep dive investigation into why certain strategies didn’t perform as well as expected. On the drug design side, the puzzle is often why certain compounds are active, but seemingly similar ones are inactive.”

What her colleagues say: “Yvonne Martin is a primary leader in and was one of the founders of the field of computer-aided drug design. She was arguably the first to apply computational approaches in industrial pharmaceutical research. Yvonne’s goal has been to solve problems in order to make better therapeutics. Her contributions accelerated the development of new therapeutics and reduced time and cost. She brought rational design approaches to a field that had been largely guided by subjective criteria.”—Terry Stouch, Science For Solutions and Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design