ISAR ANNOUNCES THE 2021 GERTRUDE ELION AWARDEE, DR. WILLIAM (BILL) LEE
Since 2000, ISAR has annually bestowed the Getrude Elion Award onto an outstanding senior scientist (basic or clinical) of international stature who has made considerable contributions to the general field, not necessarily directly in antiviral research. In addition to scientific preeminence, the recipient should also reflect some of “Trudy”’s characteristics, including a genuine love of science and making themselves approachable, especially to young scientists. This award has been financially supported by the Burroughs Welcome Fund since 2019. The past Elion awardees include a number of the most impactful researchers in antiviral therapy through the years. This year, ISAR is excited to add Dr. William Lee to this list.
Dr. William “Bill” Lee is the Executive Vice President of Research at Gilead Sciences. He received his BS in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry with Teddy Traylor from the University of California San Diego. He did postdoctoral work in photocatalysis with Michael Gräzel at the EPFL in Switzerland and in bio-organic chemistry with Tom Bruice at the University of California Santa Barbara. He began his industry career at Syntex Research in Palo Alto, California and then moved to California Biotechnology where he was head of Drug Delivery. In 1991 he joined Gilead Sciences as Director of Pharmaceutical Product Development and became head of Discovery Research in 2000. During his tenure, Gilead has radically changed the paradigm for both treatment and prevention of HIV, launching multiple single-tablet regimens; discovered and developed curative antiviral regimens for HCV; and in 2020, received approval for the first antiviral drug, Veklury® against the SARS 2 virus. Dr. Lee is a co-inventor of Cellcept®, Viread® and tenofovir alafenamide, a lymphatic targeting prodrug of tenofovir, approved for the treatment and prevention of HIV in the combination products Genvoya®, Descovy®, Biktarvy®; Odefsey® and Symtuza® and as a solo product, Vemlidy® for the treatment of HBV®.
ISAR congratulates Bill on his latest, and well deserved, award and appreciates that his name will add to the excellence of the Gertrude Elin awardees. Please join us in the excitement of looking forward to Bill’s presentation next March at virtual ICAR 2021.
26 DECEMBER 2020