Marletta elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Michael Marletta, PhD, who completed his PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry at UCSF in 1977, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences on April 25, 2006 at the Academy's 143rd annual meeting in Washington, DC. While a PhD graduate student at UCSF, Marletta worked under research advisor George Kenyon, PhD. Marletta was named chair of the department of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley in 2005 and currently holds an adjunct faculty position in the UCSF department of cellular and molecular pharmacology.

"Mike's brilliance has been recognized many times. He was a MacArthur Fellow, a Howard Hughes investigator, an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences," commented Thomas James, PhD, chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, UCSF. "The NAS election is a top national and international recognition well deserved. We are all quite proud that Mike began his career here in our pharmaceutical chemistry graduate program."

Marletta's research has always been at the intersection of biology and chemistry. He was a pioneer in discovering the role of nitric oxide, a critical player in communication between cells. His research has continued to use chemistry in concert with molecular and structural biology to elucidate many signaling pathways in the body. In recent years, Marletta has been focusing on using the knowledge gained for purposes of drug discovery or design, thus returning to his graduate school roots in pharmaceutical chemistry.

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Adjunct Professor and Alumnus Elected to National Academy of Sciences