Professional Titles:
Executive Director of Discovery Chemistry Cardiovascular and Chemotype Discovery Optimization at Bristol-Myers SquibbBiography:
The 2019 Mertes Memorial Lecturer will be Ruth Wexler, Executive Director of Discovery Chemistry Cardiovascular and Chemotype Discovery Optimization at Bristol-Myers Squibb in New Jersey. Wexler received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry with honors, with a minor in biology, from Boston University in 1977, and her doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982 under the direction of Professor Amos B. Smith III. Wexler started her career at the DuPont Company, as a research chemist in the Medicinal Chemistry Section of the Biomedical Products Division. While at the DuPont Experimental Station she was promoted to positions of increasing leadership responsibility and in 1998 was promoted to Executive Director. In 2001, she joined the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company as Executive Director, Discovery Chemistry, (post-acquisition of DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company) and in the fall of 2002, she moved to Hopewell site in New Jersey where she currently heads the medicinal chemistry efforts directed at cardiovascular diseases.