Inspiration and Industry Award 2011 winner

Awarded for his pioneering efforts to excite and inspire students at all levels through the Discover Chemistry initiative, which has had national impact on chemistry outreach and education.

About the Winner

Following a degree in Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry at Bath and  a post-doc in organometallic chemistry in Germany, David joined Pfizer, Sandwich in 1993 as a medicinal chemistry team leader. 

For the last 10 years, David has been a research director, heading-up chemistry sections working in a range of therapeutic areas including Anti-Virals and Cardiovascular and has been directly involved in the identification of eleven development candidates from eight mechanistic classes, including four Phase 2 compounds. David is co-author of over 40 publications and reviews, including oral presentations at international conferences and universities and a named inventor on 16 patents. 

In 2008, David began a 15 months secondment to the Royal Society of Chemistry as part of Discover Chemistry, the chemistry education partnership between Pfizer and RSC. This £600K programme, which recently completed, has delivered a suite of education resources for students and teachers that address key skills requirements including critical thinking, mathematics and practical chemistry. 

For the last 18 months, David has continued his association with the RSC as Senior Visiting Industry Fellow where he has introduced a series of precompetitive workshops to help drive increased cross-sector collaboration in pharmaceutical research.  As well as being a Fellow of the RSC, David is a Visiting Professor at the University of Reading.