The ACS Division of Organic Chemistry is pleased to announce that the 2020 Paul G. Gassman Distinguished Service Award has been bestowed upon Dr. Pat N. Confalone.
The Gassman award was established in 1994 with financial help from the Bayer Corporation’s Pharmaceutical Division, located in West Haven, CT, and Bayer’s Polymer and Materials Divisions, located in Pittsburgh, PA. In 2007, The award was endowed by the Midwest Pharmaceutical Process Chemistry Consortium with a supporting contribution from the Division of Organic Chemistry. The award consists of a plaque and a cash award and will be formally presented at the ACS National Meeting in Atlanta, in August 2021.
Pat Confalone received his BS degree from MIT and his PhD from Harvard University where he worked with Professor R.B. Woodward. After ten years at Hoffmann-La Roche, Dr. Confalone joined Dupont Life Sciences where his Bioorganic Chemistry group developed the fluorescent dye-labeled reagents that were used in automated DNA sequencing, eventually employed in the human genome project. With DuPont Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Confalone recruited a world class Medicinal Chemistry department that discovered CozaarTM, a major anti-hypertensive based on angiotensin II antagonism. After 22 years in Discovery Research, he moved into pre-clinical development and built a highly successful Chemical Process R&D organization that carried out the chemical development of CozaarTM and SustivaTM, a highly successful NNRTI used to treat AIDS. For the last 7 years of his industrial career he was the Vice President for R&D at DuPont Crop Protection. His organization twice received Agrow Magazine’s award for best R&D pipeline in the Crop Protection Industry. He has published over 130 publications and has obtained 40 patents. He has held adjunct professorships at the University of Colorado, Rutgers University and Drew University.
Dr. Confalone has been an exemplary role model for industrial chemists with regards to his service to the ACS and the greater community of organic chemistry. He has served the Division of Organic Chemistry in many capacities as a member of the Executive Committee including as Chair. He has been a tireless supporter of funding for organic chemistry in academic labs through congressional lobbying for federal support of R&D funding for the NIH, NSF, DOD and DOE. As Chairman of the Board of Directors for the ACS, Dr. Confalone represented organic chemistry at the highest level of the society. Notably, Dr. Confalone is a co-founder of the French-American Chemical Society where organic chemists from France and America have built lasting friendships and collaborations over the course of the last 30 years. Pat has supported this project throughout its existence and was the chair of the FACS-IV conference. He is also a past chair of the Natural Products Gordon Research Conference.
Dr. Confalone is an ACS Fellow and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has received many awards and honors, including the Alpha Chi Sigma award, Harvard Graduate Society Prize, Samuel M. McElvain Industrial Speaker (1982), Robert A. Welch Foundation Lecturer (1988-1989), Esther Humphrey Lecturer (1990), Philadelphia Organic Chemistry Club Industrial Award (2005) and the Earle B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management (2021).