People of ASP

Yuzuru Shimizu received his B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1958 from Hokkaido University (HU), and received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1960 and 1963 in Pharmacognosy/Natural Products Chemistry from HU as well. After several positions, including a post-doc with S. W. Pelletier and an Assistant Professor position at HU, he joined the faculty of the Department of Pharmacognosy at the Univ. Rhode Island (URI) in 1969. He quickly rose through the ranks, serving as Professor of Pharmacognosy (1977-present), and holding a joint position as Professor of Chemistry (1982-2006). He is currently the Omar-Youngken Distinguished Chair Emeritus of Natural Product Chemistry and Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Sciences. He also served as Director of URI College of Pharmacy, Medicinal Plants Garden, and Director, NMR Facility (1995-2006). His research interests have included the search for new drugs and drug 83 sources in the marine phytoplankton, the development of aquaculture system for medicinal production, the chemistry and pharmacology of aquatic toxins, and the evaluation of traditional drug plants as alternative drugs. He has received many honors, including an Honorary Doctorate of Pharmaceutical Sciences from Toho University (2006). Professional service very important to him, and he has served on several NIH study sections and review committees. He is an Expert Consultant for National Marine Fisheries Contracts on Toxic Shellfish (1980-present). He served as Vice Chairman (with the late Paul Scheuer), of the first Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Marine Natural Products (1974), helping to start what has become one of the premier natural product forums. He later was Chairman of the GRC (1976). He is a Past President of ASP, and served for many years on the Editorial Advisory Board of J. Nat. Prod. (1977-2000). (WPJ)