In 1998, Bristol-Myers Squibb instituted a unique program of unrestricted grants, graduate fellowships, and awards to fund and recognize excellence in academic research in synthetic organic chemistry.

Assistant Professor David Sarlah has been awarded the 2019 Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Grant in Synthetic Organic Chemistry. The $75,000 in award funding will support Sarlah’s research in the discovery of new reactivities and guiding principles for organic synthesis and their application towards biologically active natural products and methods development.

Sarlah, who earned his PhD from the Scripps Research Institute, joined the faculty at Illinois in 2014. Central to his research program is the advancement of the science of synthesis. They are involved in natural products chemistry and synthesis, reaction innovation and design including asymmetric catalysis. Sarlah’s group aims to provide new solutions to the problems encountered at the frontline of organic synthesis that benefit chemistry and enable advances in the allied fields of chemical biology, material science, and medicine.