Past President

Bill Fenical was born in Chicago, and at age 12 moved to California, where he has lived ever since. He obtained his B.S. from California State Polytechnic University (1964), his M.S. from San Jose State University (1965), and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Riverside in 1968. He remained briefly at UC Riverside as an American Cancer Society postdoc, and then worked at the Shell Development Company in Emeryville, CA for a year before joining the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, where he is currently Distinguished Professor of Oceanography. He also holds an appointment as Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Science within the UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. He has been a member of ASP for over 20 years, joining after his original interest in chemical ecology widened to include a commitment to biomedical discovery consistent with the mission of the Society. He received the Research Achievement Award in recognition of an investment he made about 15 years ago to develop marine microbiology. This proved to be an enormously challenging and risky endeavor which continues to pay off with the discovery of remarkably diverse and potent molecules, some of which have gone into clinical trials. As President, he established an ASP Annual Meeting Committee, which has brought order to the process of organizing and scheduling future society meetings. (Katherine Maloney)