Team
Mark Smith, Ph.D.
Head of Medicinal Chemistry, Stanford ChEM-H
Dr. Mark Smith has led the Stanford ChEM-H Medicinal Chemistry Knowledge Center since 2013. Herein, he collaborates extensively with biologists and physician scientists to incorporate medicinal chemistry into their current and future research endeavors. Mark is also the Medicinal Chemistry Co-Lead for the Stanford Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA) and Director of the Stanford CHEM-H Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Program. Previously, Dr. Smith worked as a senior scientist at Roche Pharmaceuticals research facilities both in Palo Alto, CA and Nutley, NJ, where he specialized in antiviral research. Dr. Smith is a founder of Riboscience LLC and is a Scientific Advisory Board member of Tranquis Therapeutics.
Andrew Hinman, Ph.D.
Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry, and the Innovative Medicines Accelerator
Dr Andrew Hinman join the MCKC in July of 2022. He works with Stanford faculty to develop cutting edge therapeutics and launch biotech companies. Previously, Andrew developed drugs for mitochondrial and neurodegenerative diseases with BioElectron Technology Corporation and Edison Pharmaceuticals. Andrew received a PhD in organic chemistry from Stanford and did postdoctoral work at UCSF.
Staff:
Karin Stein, M.S.
Research Scientist
Karin Stein joined the MCKC as a research scientist in April 2022. She previously was at Janssen Biopharma (via acquisition of Alios Pharmaceuticals), and Roche Palo Alto. She has worked in numerous therapy areas, including antivirals, antibiotics, and anti-depressants. Karin works for the Innovative Medicines Accelerator developing novel therapeutics for disease treatment.
Jean Dam, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Dr. Jean Dam joined the MCKC in March 2023 as a Research Scientist. She joined us from South Africa where she worked developing novel antimalarial therapeutics at H3D, University of Cape Town. Here at the Innovative Medicines Accelerator she develops small molecules as therapeutic agents for a variety of diseases.
Drew (Costenbader) Shetty, B.S.
Lab Manager
Drew obtained a B.S. in Biology from East Stroudsburg University. Throughout her career, she has worked in wildlife research and biomedical engineering labs at the University of Illinois and Georgia Tech. She now uses her skills in lab management as a Lab Manager for the MCKC. She also works as a research assistant helping various projects and collaborations.
Jaden Barfuss, B.S.
Research Associate
Jaden Barfuss joined the Medicinal Chemistry Knowledge Center (MCKC) in November 2022 as a Research Scientist. Prior to joining, he completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Bioinformatics at Brigham Young University. During his undergraduate Jaden worked as a Research Assistant for Dr. Steven L. Castle where he studied routes for synthesizing dehydroamino acid containing peptides.
KyuWeon Ko, B.S.
Research Associate
KyuWeon Ko joined the Medicinal Chemistry Knowledge Center in May 2022. She is currently synthesizing small molecules for the Innovative Medicines Accelerator program. Prior to joining MCKC, KyuWeon worked as a chemist, synthesizing and purifying peptide for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry and research. In addition, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in pharmaceutical chemistry at University of California, Davis.
Arvin Karbasi, B.S.
Research Associate
Arvin Karbasi joined the Medicinal Chemistry Knowledge Center (MCKC) in July 2022 as a Research Scientist working on the synthesis of small molecules for the Innovative Medicines Accelerator program. Previously, Arvin worked at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), under the guidance of Dr. Terrence Burke, as a recipient of a CRTA Fellowship award. There, Arvin focused on the development of integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) broadly potent against viral mutants. In his spare time, Arvin enjoys hiking, long-distance running, and exploring what natural serenity California has to offer.
Theo Morgan, B.S.
Research Associate
Theo Morgan joined the Medicinal Chemistry Knowledge Center in August 2022 as a Research Scientist synthesizing small molecules for the Innovative Medicines Accelerator program. He comes to us straight out of his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, during which he spent time at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) working on lithium extraction and desalination technologies with Dr. Andrew Haddad.
Noah Reckhorn, B.S.
Research Associate
Noah Reckhorn joined the Medicinal Chemistry Knowledge Center in August 2023, where he currently works for the Innovative Medicines Accelerator program in the synthesis of small molecules. Prior to this role, Noah completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry as well as his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Chemical Engineering at Vanderbilt University, focusing his research on small molecule synthesis for ligand design.
Postdoctoral Fellows:
James Baumann, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. James E. Baumann joined the Medicinal Chemistry Knowledge Center in January 2024 as a Postdoctoral Scholar working in collaboration with Prof. Kacper Rogala's laboratory. His current work focuses on developing highly selective small molecule chemical probes to target the mTORC1 pathway, improving our understanding of this complex protein cascade and ultimately paving the way for more effective therapeutics. James obtained his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Washington under the supervision of Prof. Gojko Lalic. His research focused on the development of novel copper hydride-catalyzed chemical transformations.
Stefania Demuro, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. Stefania Demuro joined the Medicinal Chemistry Knowledge Center in October 2023 as a Postdoctoral Scholar working in collaboration with Prof. Justin Annes’ laboratory. Her current work focuses on the synthesis and optimization of compounds for cell-targeted drug delivery to develop regenerative therapeutics for diabetes. Stefania obtained her Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Bologna in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Technology (Genoa, Italy) under the supervision of Prof. Andrea Cavalli. Her research focused on the rational design and synthesis of novel multitarget protein kinase inhibitors to reverse protein tau hyperphosphorylation in Alzheimer's disease and related tauopathies.
David Dennis, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. David Dennis joined the Medicinal Chemistry Knowledge Center in February 2022 as a Postdoctoral Scholar working in collaboration with Prof. Vinit Mahajan’s laboratory (Ophthalmology). David obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with Prof. David Sarlah. His research focused on the syntheses of anthracycline and minor cannabinoid natural products.
Daniel Collins, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. Daniel Collins joined the MCKC in January 2021. Membrane-bound chloride ion channels are significant clinical targets due to the diverse distribution of structural homologs and their ubiquitous nature. Daniel is producing therapeutic candidates in collaboration with Prof. Merritt Maduke. Daniel obtained a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Prof. Phil Garner at Washington State University; he developed chemical methods to ligate small molecules to proteins. In addition, Daniel completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Natural Product Synthesis in the laboratory of Prof. Jin-Kun Cha at Wayne State University.
Minh Nguyen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. Minh Nguyen joined the Medicinal Chemistry Knowledge Center as a postdoctoral scholar in August 2022. In collaboration with Prof. Jeffrey Glenn laboratory, his research objective is to harness the power of organic synthesis toward the development of novel antiviral therapies. Minh obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania under the direction of Prof. Amos B. Smith, III. His doctoral work centered on the convergent total synthesis of two marine natural products nahuoic acids Cii and Dii.
Former Team Members:
Paul Allegretti, Ph.D.
Samuel Banister, Ph.D.
John Bruning Ph.D.
Samanta Capolicchio, Ph.D.
Jackie Carozza, Ph.D.
Matthew Caffet
David Cole, MSc.
Nick Cox, Ph.D.
Jitendra Gurjar, Ph.D.
Hannah Hashimoto, M.S.
Maddie Hayes-Lattin
Justin Ho
James Holt-Martyn D.Phil.
Robert Lesniak, D.Phil.
Leela Mahajan
Cynthia Messina, Ph.D.
David McCutcheon, Ph.D.
Andrew Ng, BSc.
Irene Pachon Angona Ph.D.
Timothy Paris, B.S.
Dylan Parsons, Ph.D.
Garrett Potter Ph.D.
Andrew Raub, Ph.D.
Peter Rosston, B.A.
Timothy Rhorer MSc.
Russel Stabler, MSc.
Andre St. Amant Ph.D.
Phil Thomson Ph.D.
Li Zheng Ph.D.