Christopher T. Walsh
Harvard Medical School

"For pioneering work in biological chemistry."

Chris Walsh is fascinated by enzymes that spur reactions at the intersection of his three key interests:  chemistry, biology and medicine.  The scientist has dedicated his very productive research career to exploring how enzymes direct the reactions and mechanisms of chemical transformations, with a particular interest in those that ultimately may be useful for therapeutics.  He began by studying the suicide substrates that inactivate enzymes - reactions at the core of many drugs.  In another early discovery, he unraveled the process by which bacteria detoxify mercury in the environment.

Dr. Walsh has inspired a renaissance in natural products chemistry, with much of his work focusing on antibiotics.  In a major contribution, he explained the process by which patients develop antibiotic resistance, specifically to vancomycin, then the antibiotic of last resort for many life-threatening infections.  This understanding enabled the design of alternatives that circumvent the problem.

His group currently is exploring the chemical logic and enzymatic machinery of nature's antibiotic production to identify new antibiotics, antitumor agents and immunosuppressants and to improve the efficiency of production in the lab.

The Boston native earned an undergraduate degree in biology at Harvard and a doctorate in life sciences from The Rockefeller University.  After 15 years at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he has spent 22 years at Harvard Medical School, including four as president of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  A prolific researcher, Dr. Walsh has published 750 papers and three books.  He pursues his interest in translating basic research into applied medicine by consulting with pharmaceutical and biotech companies.