Fall 2025

Keary Engle, John and Susan Diekman Dean of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies and a chemistry professor at Scripps Research, received a 2025 Green Chemistry Challenge Award in recognition of his research that exemplifies the principles of green chemistry. The award is given jointly by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the ACS Green Chemistry Institute.

Assistant professors Chen Ran and Meng Zhang each received a 2025 Baxter Young Investigator Award and $150,000 from the Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation to support their research. The foundation annually recognizes early career researchers whose work in science and technology holds promise for improving patient care.

Benjamin Cravatt, the Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology, was awarded the 2025 Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry. Given by Elsevier, the publisher of Tetrahedron, the award honors an organic, bioorganic or medicinal chemist who’s made significant, original contributions to their field.

Assistant Professor Donghyun Raphael Park and PhD student Valery Ortiz received the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellowship to advance their use of cryo-electron tomography to study how bacteriophages infect and kill mycobacteria. They are one of just 30 student-advisor pairs from more than 800 applicants nationwide.

Donna Blackmond, professor and holder of the John C. Martin Endowed Chair in Chemistry, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the U.K.’s national academy of engineering. Blackmond was recognized for her accomplishments across the chemical engineering field.

Li Ye, the N. Paul Whittier Chair in Chemistry and Chemical Biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, received the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Young Investigator Award from the Society for Neuroscience. The award recognizes the contributions of early career neuroscientists who demonstrate scholarly independence.

Executive Vice President Eric Topol, The Gary and Mary West Chair of Innovative Medicine and Chair of the Department of Translational Medicine, was named one of the 25 best leaders in the country by U.S. News & World Report. The list includes those who are making a significant impact in business, education, public health and public service.

Winter 2025/2026

Stuart Lipton, holder of the Step Family Foundation Endowed Chair and professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. The honor recognizes both his personal accomplishments and his dedication to advancing technology and fostering innovation for the benefit of society.

Assistant Professor Yuzhong Liu was awarded the 2026 PhRMA Foundation Faculty Starter Grant in Drug Discovery to support her work in synthetic chemistry and synthetic biology. Of the 50 early career scientists receiving awards from the foundation this year, Liu was the only recipient of the Faculty Starter Grant in Drug Discovery.

A study published by Associate Professor Danielle Grotjahn and her team was recognized by the Journal of Cell Biology for garnering exceptional reader interest. Their paper was one of 13 featured in the journal’s prestigious “The Year in Cell Biology: 2025” collection.

Benjamin Cravatt, the Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology and professor in the Department of Chemistry, was named the inaugural recipient of the Chi-Huey Wong Chemical Biology Award. The honor recognizes scientists whose work has significantly advanced the field of chemical biology and benefited global health.

Cravatt was also presented with the 2026 NAS Award in Chemical Sciences by the National Academy of Sciences. The award honors innovative research that benefits humanity and advances understanding of the natural sciences.

Jeffery Kelly, the H. Lutcher Brown Professor of Chemistry at Scripps Research, has been included on the Forbes Innovator 250 list, which recognizes 250 individuals whose ideas and business leadership have helped transform industries and brought new innovations to market. Kelly is recognized for his pioneering contributions at the nexus of business, chemistry and pharmaceutical development.

Xin Jin, an associate professor and a Freeman Hrabowski Scholar at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has been awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship for her exceptional research and leadership in the field of neuroscience. The Sloan Research Fellows are considered to be some of the most promising early career researchers in the U.S. and Canada, driving meaningful progress in their respective disciplines.