
William Fenical
President (2005-2006), Farnsworth Award (2006), Fellow (2006), Honorary Member
University of California, San Diego, Scripps Instituion of Oceanography
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)