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Citizenship in the World of Medicinal Chemistry: 25 Years as an ACSMEDI Volunteer Patrick M. Woster*
ACS Med. Chem. Lett. Downloaded from pubs.acs.org by 46.161.56.186 on 04/24/19. For personal use only.
Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, 70 President Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29425, United States
ABSTRACT: The American Chemical Society is one of the largest organizations dedicated to chemistry, yet it could not exist without significant contributions from unpaid volunteers. In this Viewpoint, I hope to convince the reader that providing service to the profession of medicinal chemistry can contribute to your career development and shape the future of the discipline. KEYWORDS: American Chemical Society, Division of Medicinal Chemistry, volunteerism, career development
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GETTING INVOLVED The purpose of this Viewpoint is not to chronicle what my fellow officers and I have done over the years, but rather to demonstrate the profound effect that Division service has had on my career. None of the accomplishments described below are the result of my efforts alone. I joined ACS as a graduate student in 1980, but the reason I joined is more important. I was, of course, interested in ACS Publications, but I was also encouraged by my mentor to participate in professional societies and to give back to the profession in some tangible way. This type of encouragement was common in 1980; I cannot say whether it is a factor in the training of a student in medicinal chemistry today, but it certainly should be. In 1994, when I had fully established my independent research program, I reached out to ACSMEDI to volunteer my services and was appointed as a member of the membership committee. At that time, computational chemistry was in its early stages, and I had garnered sufficient funding to purchase a Silicon Graphics server with a color raster. Because I had introduced my department to email beyond BitNet, and because I had learned some HTML code, I was asked by the MEDI Chair, Gary Grunewald, to design a website for the Division, and to create a listserve so that the Division could communicate with its membership. It is worth mentioning that ACSMEDI was the first Division to have a presence on the Internet, and in fact, our website predated the ACS website. Thus, it was possible to coordinate all electronic communications with the MEDI membership through a single division officer, a job that I held from 1994 to 2012. Acceptance of MEDI e-initiatives was slow at first, and there were bumps in the road (e.g., a spam email for a catalog of Russian brides sent to chemists all over the
he American Chemical Society Division of Medicinal Chemistry (ACSMEDI) is widely regarded as the premier professional organization dedicated to the discipline of medicinal chemistry.1 ACSMEDI plans all scientific programming at national meetings, supports graduate education, publishes an annual compendium of research in drug discovery (Medicinal Chemistry Reviews), advocates for the profession, promotes scientific collaboration, provides a venue for career development, influences scientific policy, and maintains outreach with medicinal chemists worldwide. In short, ACSMEDI has a significant global impact on how medicinal chemistry is practiced. Surely such an influential organization is worth belonging to. At the end of 2012, ACSMEDI had 10,578 members. However, at the time of this writing, membership has fallen to 7,417. Some of this decline can be attributed to downsizing and outsourcing in the pharmaceutical industry, but I believe a significant portion is due to a lack of appreciation for the benefits derived from service in professional organizations. I am hopeful that membership will rebound as ACSMEDI engages younger volunteers who better understand the methods used to communicate to a new generation of medicinal chemists. As the title implies, I have been an officer in ACSMEDI for 25 years and made the difficult decision to step aside at the end of 2018. During that time, there have been many changes in the way the Division is governed, in Division programs, and in the influence ACSMEDI has on the profession. It is important to point out that all of these changes have been overseen by a small group of dedicated volunteers, who unselfishly give their time and energy to serve the discipline of medicinal chemistry.2,3 © XXXX American Chemical Society
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DOI: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.9b00145 ACS Med. Chem. Lett. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
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a significant role in any success I have had as a researcher. At the same time, I had created a network of colleagues who were available to give career advice, make suggestions to advance my discovery program, and provide a conduit for my students to interact with industry. In part because of these interactions, I am able to serve as director of an academic drug discovery program with a small portfolio of lead candidates. By gaining an understanding of the practice of medicinal chemistry in industry, I was able to tailor course offerings in our Ph.D. program to better familiarize our graduate students with the practice of drug discovery in industry. Today, our core graduate curriculum is replete with examples of successful discovery campaigns from industry. These courses include subject matter describing industrial drug design techniques (high-throughput screening, fragment-based discovery, structure-based design), entrepreneurship, protection of intellectual property, and the FDA approval process, to name a few. My role as a MEDI officer involved serving as a liaison to foreign societies dedicated to medicinal chemistry. Through these associations my colleagues and I strengthened formal relations with the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC) and the Asian Federation of Medicinal Chemistry (AFMC). Current programs in that area, including outreach to scientists in India and China, are beginning to gain traction, and are making MEDI programs available worldwide.
world, Christmas trees to buy online, bottled water for Y2K, etc.). Nonetheless, within a few years it was widely used by the MEDI membership. Ultimately, all Division communications, the semiannual newsletter The Reaction Times, and most recently Medicinal Chemistry Reviews are all presented in electronic format.4,5 In addition, Division finances, including registrations for the National Medicinal Chemistry Symposium, payment of MEDI dues, and sale of MEDI publications are handled through the ACSMEDI online store. The takehome message here is that a young academic medicinal chemist with a volunteer spirit was able to have a tremendous impact on the way MEDI business was, and still is, conducted worldwide. In late 2004, a group of three EC members (myself, Dave Rotella, and Dan Flynn) half-jokingly discussed the possibility of creating a MEDI Hall of Fame (HOF). We jokingly discussed having a sort of medicinal chemistry Cooperstown, complete with memorabilia and busts of Smissman, Burger, and the like. Since I was the Division webmaster (and lacking a dedicated facility), I took it upon myself to create a virtual HOF, and populated it with past winners of major Division awards such as the Bristol-Myers Squibb Smissman Award and the Division of Medicinal Chemistry Award (https://www. acsmedchem.org/?nd=inductees). The initial HOF inductees (1966−2005) evolved into a Who’s Who compendium of some of the most talented and highly respected medicinal chemists, including 2 Nobel prize winners, the discoverers of paclitaxel, camptothecin, pemetrexed, pregabalin, sofosbuvir, and many others. We inducted our first “class” in 2006, and to our great surprise, the HOF award became a popular and highly sought honor that is now bestowed upon deserving individuals annually at the Fall ACS meeting. The award became so popular that the 34 living initial inductees lobbied for and received plaques commemorating their induction. Today the HOF is one of the most prestigious awards given by the MEDI Division, but more importantly, it serves as a compendium of the rich history of medicinal chemistry, and a chronicle of the many advances in human health that have emanated from Division members. As I reflect on my time as a MEDI officer, this is the achievement I am most proud of.
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EDUCATION AND ADVOCACY One of the stated goals of the most recent MEDI strategic plan relates to providing educational opportunities for trainees in medicinal chemistry. In the past decade, MEDI has maintained a predoctoral fellowship program that provides funding for graduate students in the discipline in their third or fourth year of study. Without mentioning any names, the list of previous predoctoral fellowships includes several scientists who have risen to the top of the field of medicinal chemistry. In addition to this program, MEDI provides multiple venues for students to present their work in both oral and poster format. Equally important initiatives have emerged to engage younger members, expand MEDI programs globally, and enhance diversity and the participation of women. MEDI has also discussed ways to educate the public about drug discovery and the pharmaceutical industry. MEDI programming at ACS national meetings gives members access to the latest topics in drug discovery and, as such, have become one of the top benefits of Division membership. MEDI symposia are planned one year in advance by the Division Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC), which comprises 14 active researchers (7 from academia and 7 from industry). For each LRPC meeting, a call for symposium proposals is issued, and the LRPC selects (by vote) 10−15 symposia from as many as 100 submitted proposals for inclusion in the program. The LRPC also selects symposia for ACS sessions hosted by the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry and the Asian Federation of Medicinal Chemistry. Using this scheduling method, the LRPC has provided medicinal chemists worldwide with cutting-edge talks containing the latest information in a given area of drug discovery research. MEDI is the only division that democratically selects symposia suggested by members. As such, members of the MEDI Division are encouraged to submit proposals in a research area of their interest. MEDI has always maintained ties with ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters and the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, such
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NETWORKING AND PROFESSIONAL ADVANCEMENT I can state without contradiction that I met many of the most accomplished medicinal chemists in the world solely because of my involvement with MEDI. These are people who I could not have met any other way, and interaction with these scientists had a lasting impact on my research and teaching. The endeavors described below came to fruition in part as a direct result of my involvement as a MEDI volunteer. As any academic medicinal chemist will tell you, he or she had only a vague conception of the way in which drug discovery is conducted in the pharmaceutical industry. As a young ACSMEDI volunteer, I found myself in executive committee meetings with industrial scientists who were experienced in drug discovery and, in some cases, in positions of influence in the industry. To my surprise, these individuals welcomed my suggestions, and I immediately felt that I was having an influence on the practice of our profession. In return, I was able to learn a great deal about drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry and came to appreciate that they looked at the process in a very different way. The information I gained was incorporated into my research program and played B
DOI: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.9b00145 ACS Med. Chem. Lett. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
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that each is a part of the others standard operations. In that spirit, the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, ACS Publications, and MEDI worked together to create the Portoghese Lectureship, which is now awarded annually at the Fall ACS meeting. The program began in 2010 and has named 9 awardees to date.
The author declares no competing financial interest.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Over the years, I have worked with many talented and committed scientists who selflessly gave their time for the betterment of the field of medicinal chemistry and the American Chemical Society. There are too many of them to mention, but I have greatly enjoyed working with all of you. You know who you are, and I am grateful to count you among my valued colleagues.
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A STAKE IN THE FUTURE OF THE PROFESSION During my time with the Division, I served as facilitator for the creation of three strategic plans at 1−2 day planning sessions in 2006, 2013, and 2018. In looking back, it is interesting to see how the strategic initiatives of the Division have changed. In 2006, MEDI was positioned pretty much as it had been for 30 years, seeking to serve both industry and academia, to provide programming at ACS meetings, and to produce Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry. All MEDI records were in hard copy format and were physically passed from officer to officer, so the executive committee began digitizing all documents. The 2006 strategic plan provided a framework to become a more globalized organization and to enhance communications with members. By 2013, the Division membership had dropped slightly, and the new strategic initiatives revolved around being recognized as a global authority in medicinal chemistry, as well as enhancing advocacy, gaining better control of its assets, and interacting with other ACS divisions. There was an initiative to change the name of the Division, which ultimately did not succeed. It also became clear that it was crucial to reach young people in our field since it was perceived that MEDI was not reaching them. In 2012, MEDI had a record 10,578 members, but significant downsizing and outsourcing in the industry caused a precipitous drop in membership in 2013 (8,870 members) that ultimately stabilized in 2018 (7,416 members). Thus, the most recent strategic initiatives are to increase outreach to younger chemists, to increase the number of women involved in the Divison, and to reimagine Division scientific programming. In closing, I encourage you to consider serving as a volunteer for ACS at the national, divisional, or regional level. You will find, as I did, that it is a rewarding experience that both shapes the profession and provides personal satisfaction. Being involved in a professional organization is not an outdated concept, and for those of you who are new to the field, I encourage you to explore the benefits of membership and of serving as a way to give back. The MEDI division is working hard to involve young medicinal chemists, who represent the future of the discipline, and your input is vital to the evolution and success of the Division. Granted it is an investment of time, but the rewards far outweigh the effort expended. Perhaps it was best summarized in one of my favorite quotes, which appears in The Lorax6 by Dr. Seuss: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” − Dr. Seuss
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ABBREVIATIONS ACS, American Chemical Society; ACSMEDI, ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry; MEDI, Division of Medicinal Chemistry; HOF, MEDI Hall of Fame; LRPC, Long Range Planning Committee; LORAX, a small, furry, heavily mustached creature who warns of the dangers of selfishness and apathy on the environment
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REFERENCES
(1) The ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry Web Site. http:// www.acsmedchem.org. (2) Woster, P. M. Foreword: American Chemical Society Division of Medicinal Chemistry. Celebrating 100 Years of Excellence. J. Med. Chem. 2009, 52, 7333−7338. (3) Histories of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry by Joseph Cannon (http://wizard.musc.edu/cannon.pdf) and John Neumeyer (http://wizard.musc.edu/neumeyer.pdf). (4) Med. Chem. Rev. 2015, 50, 1−16. (5) Addendum: A History of Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry Volumes 1−49. https://www.acsmedchem.org/ama/orig/ documents/WosterAddendum.pdf. (6) Marris, E. In retrospect: The Lorax. Nature 2011, 476, 148−149.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*Address: Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, 70 President St., Room 404, MSC 139, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425. E-mail:
[email protected]. ORCID
Patrick M. Woster: 0000-0002-9471-1916 C
DOI: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.9b00145 ACS Med. Chem. Lett. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
