The ACS Division of Organic Chemistry has named Cynthia A. Maryanoff, Baruch S. Blumberg Institute Foundation Distinguished Professor and Pennsylvania Drug Discovery Institute Professor of Drug Delivery – the winner of the 2018 Paul G. Gassman Distinguished Service Award. The award was established in 1994 to recognize outstanding service to the organic chemistry community. Presented every other year at the divisional executive committee dinner of the Fall ACS National Meeting, the award consists of $1,500 and a cut crystal plaque.
Cynthia A. Maryanoff received her B.S. degree in chemistry from Drexel University and her Ph.D. degree from Princeton University. After conducting postdoctoral work at Princeton, she joined the Medicinal Chemistry Department at Smith, Kline & French in Philadelphia. In 1981, she moved to Johnson & Johnson (J&J), and advanced to the highest scientific position in the company, Distinguished Research Fellow, retiring in 2013 after 32 years of service. At J&J her work involved rapidly moving new molecular entities (NMEs) from small-scale to large-scale chemical synthesis, the development of formulations and analytical methods, thereby advancing NMEs to first-in-human and proof-of-principle studies in record time relative to industry standards. She is now affiliated with the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute as Foundation Distinguished Professor and the Pennsylvania Drug Discovery Institute as Professor of Drug Delivery.
Cyndie is very active in the scientific community both locally and nationally, especially within the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry where she currently serves on the Executive Committee (1988-present). As a member of the Organic Division’s executive committee she served as a Councilor or Alternate Councilor for many years, organized and chaired over 30 award symposia, and served as the first female Chair. For the past 30 years, Cyndie chaired the Division’s Award Committee, where she initiated and obtained funding to support the Travel Award program to help outstanding students and faculty at undergraduate institutions attend ACS National Meetings and National Organic Symposia. This program has supported more than a thousand students and faculty over the last 30 years. Cyndie also created the Organic Division’s Technical Achievement Award (TAOC), an annual award symposium that recognizes outstanding contributions to organic chemistry by industrial or government chemists at the non-Ph.D. level. The Travel Award and TAOC Award programs have earned ACS ChemLuminary Awards for the Division. Additionally, Cyndie currently serves the ACS on the ACS Governing Board of Publishing and the International Affairs Committee.
Cyndie is an inaugural ACS Fellow and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has received numerous national, local, and internal corporate awards that encompass both scientific and managerial achievements, most notably: The Perkin Medal (2015); The ACS Earle B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management; The ACS Garvan–Olin Medal; the ACS Henry F. Whalen, Jr. Award for Business Development. Cyndie has served for many years as a member of the Drexel University Advisory Council for the College of Arts and Sciences.