John W. Kozarich

Biography

 John W. Kozarich’s research over the years has focused on the mechanisms of enzyme and drug action. He received a B.S. in Chemistry from Boston College and a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from MIT. Following postdoctoral research in biochemistry at Harvard, he entered the ranks of academia (1977-94), ultimately holding full professorships in Pharmacology at Yale University School of Medicine and in Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park. A sabbatical in 1990 as CSO of a start-up biotech company Alkermes, in Cambridge, MA motivated him to explore other venues for his chemical interests. In 1992, he joined Merck Research Labs as Vice President of Biochemistry, having responsibility for a broad array of drug discovery programs and biotechnology collaborations and for the initial development of Merck’s Boston Research Center. In 2001 he joined ActivX, a start-up company specializing in the design of chemoproteomic tools for drug discovery. He has served on many advisory committees in the academic, professional society, government and business sectors. He was an American Cancer Society Faculty Research Awardee (1983-88) and received the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry (1988) by the American Chemical Society. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a recent recipient of the Distinguished Scientist Award of the San Diego Section of the American Chemical Society. In addition to his role at ActivX, he is Chairman of the Board at Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Chief Scientific Advisor at Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co. (Tokyo), Adjunct Professor of Chemical Physiology at The Scripps Research Institute and Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Gordon Research Conferences.

Research Interest

 John W. Kozarich’s research over the years has focused on the mechanisms of enzyme and drug action.