Adrian Whitty Receives Tenure
The Department of Chemistry would like to share the great news that Professor Adrian Whitty has received tenure. Adrian Whitty has taken a non-traditional route to an academic research and teaching career. He joined the Department in April 2008 at the level of Associate Professor without tenure. He came to BU after 14 years of research at the biotechnology company, Biogen (Cambridge MA), where he rose to the position of Director in the Drug Discovery Department. Since joining the Department of Chemistry, Professor Whitty has established a strong, interdisciplinary research program in important areas of quantitative physical biochemistry. His research at Biogen served as the foundation for his current studies in the activation mechanisms of growth factor receptors and the biophysical nature of protein-protein interactions, which are highly important to the development of small-molecule therapeutics. Professor Whitty’s program is distinctive in that it brings quantitative analysis to the study of biological problems that traditionally have been approached using qualitative approaches.
A recipient of the Templeton Prize for Excellence in Student Advising (2011), Adrian Whitty is an outstanding teacher and mentor for graduate and undergraduate students. He has successfully launched the careers of graduate and postdoctoral associates alike. He is also an integral member of the Molecular and Cellular Biology and Biochemistry (MCBB) Program, the Bioinformatics Program, and the Biomolecular Engineering Research Center.
Adrian Whitty received his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from King’s College, University of London (B.Sc., hon) in 1995, and his M.S. (1988) and Ph.D. (1991) in Organic Chemistry from the Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago. He carried out his postdoctoral studies (1990-1993) at Brandeis University in the laboratory of Professor William P. Jencks. He subsequently joined Biogen where he held the positions of Scientist II, Protein Engineering Department (1993 – 1998), Senior Scientist, Drug Discovery Department (1999 – 2002), Associate Director & Head, Physical Biochemistry (2003 – 2007), and Director, Physical Biochemistry (2007- 2008). Since coming to BU, he has been successful in obtaining support from the National Institutes of Health and from various sponsors in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.