Christopher KellyThe PI

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ABOUT CHRIS

Chris grew up in Yorktown Heights, NY, a suburb of one of the greatest cities in the world. Chris’s interest in organic chemistry was sparked during his undergraduate studies at Stonehill College in North Easton, MA. At Stonehill, Chris worked under the mentorship of Prof. Leon Tilley and completed a targeted synthesis of a previously unknown bicyclobutane derivative, 1-(trifluoromethyl)bicyclo[1.1.0]butane. After graduating summa cum laude and valedictorian of his class, Chris moved to the University of Connecticut to perform his doctoral work under Prof. Nicholas Leadbeater. At UCONN, he worked toward developing practical methods in the areas of organofluorine chemistry, sustainable oxidative processes, and the integration of emerging technologies (continuous flow processing, microwave irradiation, etc.) in synthesis. In 2015, he moved to Philadelphia to pursue his post-doctoral training as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow under Prof. Gary Molander at the University of Pennsylvania. At Penn, Chris’s research centered on the utilization of photoredox catalysis as an enabling technology for C–C bond construction and its application toward accessing novel fluorinated motifs. In the summer of 2018, Chris will move to Richmond, VA to join the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Medicines for All Institute. At VCU, Chris’s group will focus on reaction discovery by leveraging high throughput experimentation, computational insight, and cutting-edge equipment with the ultimate goal of developing tools to solve problems in medicinal chemistry.

SELECTED HONORS AND AWARDS

  • National Institutes of Health National Service Research Award Postdoctoral Fellowship (2016-2018, Penn)
  • Mentorship Excellence Award & Connecticut Chemistry Research Award (2015, UCONN)
  • College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Fellowship (2014, UCONN)
  • Office of Sponsored Programs Fellowship (2012, UCONN)
  • NSF Graduate Fellowship Honorable Mention (2011, Stonehill)
  • William C. LaPlante Memorial Scholarship (2010, Stonehill)
  • Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship (2009, Stonehill)
  • NSF REU Fellow at Columbia University (2009, Stonehill)
  • PolyEd Award & Merck Index Award (2008, Stonehill)

    • Chris's CV

Synthetic Methods Development @ VCU Chemistry







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