William J. Greenlee, Ph.D.
Class of 2006
William J. Greenlee
William J. Greenlee, Ph.D. was born in 1950 in Columbus. He
began his career in chemistry as a high school student while working at his
father’s company, “Chemical Samples Company,” synthesizing
and purifying acetylenes and other hydrocarbons. While an undergraduate at The
Ohio State University, Greenlee carried out research with Prof. Paul Gassman
on strained ring hydrocarbons. After receiving his B.S. degree in chemistry
OSU in 1972, Greenlee was awarded an NSF Predoctoral Fellowship and began graduate
studies with Prof. Robert B. Woodward at Harvard University. He received his
Ph.D. degree from Harvard in 1976, after completing the first total synthesis
of (+/-)-marasmic acid. He was an NIH Posdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University
with Prof. Gilbert Stork, and was a member of the team that completed the first
total synthesis of cytochalasin B.
Dr. Greenlee joined Merck Research Laboratories in 1977 as a member of the New
Lead Discovery department where he became part of the Merck team under Dr. Arthur
Patchett that discovered potent inhibitors of angiotensin-converting enzyme,
including enalapril (Vasotec™) and lisinopril (Prinivil™). He and
his associates investigated the design and synthesis of inhibitors of enzymes
of bacterial cell-wall synthesis (alanine racemase, D-Ala-D-Ala ligase) as potential
antibacterial agents, and renin inhibitors for hypertension. Greenlee and his
group also worked on angiotensin II receptor antagonists, an effort that evolved
into a collaboration with scientists at the Dupont Merck Pharmaceutical Company.
Greenlee’s team identified several potent angiotensin AT1 antagonists
including MK-996, and developed the first potent dual AT1/AT2 antagonists. His
group also discovered potent angiotensin AT¬1 agonists, the first nonpeptide
agonists of a peptide receptor outside the opioid field. He and his associates
also developed orally bioavailable endothelin receptor antagonists. He was promoted
to Director in 1989 and to Senior Director in 1992.
In 1995, Greenlee joined the Schering Plough Research Institute (SPRI) as Senior
Director, Cardiovascular and CNS Chemical Research, and is currently Vice President,
CNS and Cardiovascular Chemistry and High-Throughput Synthesis. At Schering-Plough,
he directs a group of 80 chemists in the design and synthesis of potential drug
candidates for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, obesity, diabetes, thrombosis
and chronic pain. His group has discovered six development candidates that have
entered clinical trials.
Greenlee chaired the Medicinal Chemistry Gordon Conference in 1997 and has served
as Chair for both the Medicinal Chemistry (2003) and Organic Chemistry (2004)
Divisions of the American Chemical Society. He severed as Section Editor (Cardiovascular
and Pulmonary), for Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry (1999–2004),
and is currently Perspectives Editor for the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
He received the Alfred Burger Award in Medicinal Chemistry from the American
Chemical Society in 2004. He is Co-Organizer of the annual Drew Residential
School on Medicinal Chemistry, and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for
Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ. He is author of more than 130 research
publications and inventor of over 60 U.S. patents.
Return to the Division of Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame Page