People of ASP

Bill Gerwick received a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of California Davis in 1976, and a Ph.D. in Oceanography (1981) from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of California San Diego (UCSD), mentored by Bill Fenical. In 2005 he returned to La Jolla to hold a joint professorship at SIO and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, UCSD. His research focuses on the discovery of novel bioactive natural products from marine algae and cyanobacteria, especially those with anticancer, anti-tropical disease or neurotoxic properties. He is also interested in the biosynthetic pathways these organisms utilize to create these oftentimes exotic molecular structures. He served as Assoc. Editor of J. Nat. Prod. (2002-2008), and on the NIH Review Committee for Natural Products Research (2003-2007). He was elected Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Marine Natural Products Chemistry (1996), and the Foreign Chair of the USJapan Symposium on Marine Natural Products Chemistry in 2003. He attended his first ASP meeting in 1985 (UNC Chapel Hill), and Bill and his students have presented numerous posters and talks at ASP meetings. He was conference chair for the 2005 annual meeting of the ASP held on the Oregon State University campus, which is also his favorite (so far). He was honored to be the lead organizer. The science was exceptional, the Oregon State University provided a great venue, we had some really fun excursions, and the night of wine tasting/salmon bake/folk music seemed to bring it all together. As ASP President, he expanded the number of awards for undergraduate and graduate students to attend the annual meeting, and started the student poster award program at the annual meeting. Because of his ongoing service to ASP, he was made a Fellow of the Society. (WHG)