UCLA Alumni Medicinal Chemists Receive 2026 ACS Early Career Investigator Awards
核心洞察
Dr. Joyann Donaldson (Ph.D. '19) received the 2026 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Early Career Investigator Award for her work at Pfizer, including discovering a first-in-class HPK1 (搜索) inhibitor that entered Phase I oncology trials.
Dr. Jesus Moreno (Ph.D. '17) received the MEDI Early Career Investigator Award for his targeted protein degradation work at Bristol Myers Squibb (搜索), advancing BLIMP-1 (搜索) and WEE1 (搜索) degraders into pre-clinical development.
Both chemists trained in Professor Neil Garg's lab at UCLA and will deliver scientific talks at the 2026 ACS Fall National Meeting in Chicago.
Two UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry alumni have been named recipients of American Chemical Society (ACS) early career investigator awards, recognizing their significant contributions to pharmaceutical drug discovery. Dr. Joyann Donaldson (Ph.D. '19) was selected to receive the 2026 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Early Career Investigator Award, while Dr. Jesus Moreno (Ph.D. '17) was selected to receive the MEDI (Medicinal Chemistry) Early Career Investigator Award. Both will receive their awards and give scientific talks at the 2026 ACS Fall National Meeting, scheduled for August 23–27, 2026, at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago.
The ACS Early Career Investigator (ECI) Award program recognizes scientists who are no more than 10 years from graduate school or postdoctoral appointment, currently working in a non-academic setting, and who have demonstrated significant accomplishments and outstanding promise for future contributions to the field.
Advancing First-in-Class Oncology Therapies at Pfizer
Donaldson is being recognized for her accomplishments at Pfizer Inc., where she now works as a Senior Principal Scientist leading organic synthesis and drug discovery. Her contributions played a pivotal role in discovering Pfizer's first-in-class hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1 (搜索)) inhibitor that entered Phase I clinical trials for oncology.
Donaldson earned her B.S. in Chemistry from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, in 2014, and her Ph.D. in Chemistry at UCLA in 2019, working in Professor Neil Garg's lab. During her doctoral studies, she developed chemistry for generating and utilizing strained cyclic allenes, with potential applications in drug discovery, materials chemistry, and natural product total synthesis.
After joining Pfizer as a Medicinal Chemist, Donaldson progressed to Senior Principal Scientist, now supervising two reports as a Synthesis Leader. Beyond the HPK1 (搜索) inhibitor program, she led and co-authored four published manuscripts on different applications of C-H activation chemistry, collaborating with companies such as Bioduro and HitGen. More recently, she led another discovery-phase immuno-oncology project and a novel molecular glue project targeting prostate cancer (搜索).
"Joyann combines scientific rigor and leadership in a way that is rarely seen so early in a career," said Dr. Sajiv Nair, Senior Director of Oncology Medicinal Chemistry at Pfizer. "From advancing innovative synthetic chemistry to enabling new therapies for patients with cancer, she has consistently distinguished herself as both an outstanding scientist and an exceptional colleague."
Her Ph.D. advisor, Professor Neil Garg, added: "While competing as a world-class athlete, Joyann published a dozen papers during her time at UCLA, was the inventor on a patent, received numerous honors and awards, and displayed an impeccable commitment to inspiring the next generation of scientists. It is no surprise to see her continuing on her track-record of success in the pharmaceutical industry."
Pioneering Targeted Protein Degradation at Bristol Myers Squibb
Moreno is being recognized for his role at Bristol Myers Squibb (搜索) (BMS), where he works as a Principal Scientist specializing in targeted protein degradation. His work focuses on developing targeted protein degraders that bind to disease-related proteins and tag them for removal by the body's natural disposal systems.
"Jesus has contributed medicinal chemistry efforts at BMS to design and optimize targeted protein degraders molecules that modulate disease-causing proteins and mark them for the body's natural disposal machinery," said Dr. Thomas Cummins, Associate Director and team lead in Small Molecule Drug Discovery at BMS. "His work has helped advance BLIMP-1 (搜索) and WEE1 (搜索) degraders into pre-clinical development, while his contributions to platform-level improvements have accelerated degrader discovery across multiple programs."
Moreno began as a biochemistry major at UC San Diego before switching to organic chemistry. After earning his B.S. in Molecular Synthesis in 2012, he completed a 4-month internship at Vertex Pharmaceuticals before joining UCLA's Organic Chemistry Ph.D. program. In Professor Neil Garg's lab, he worked on the total synthesis of picrinine, a complex, cage-like alkaloid. With fellow lab member Joel Smith, now a Florida State University Professor, Moreno achieved the first total synthesis of picrinine after about a year and a half of work, followed by several other total syntheses within the same family.
After graduating from UCLA in 2017, Moreno joined Merck & Co. (搜索) as a Medicinal Chemist before moving to Bristol Myers Squibb (搜索) in 2020. In 2024, he was selected as one of C&EN's Talented 12 out of nearly 450 nominations. Recently, he represented BMS at the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry Symposium (2026), where he spoke on CELMoD and ligand-directed degraders.
"During his time here at UCLA, Jesus's achievements were astonishing," said Professor Neil Garg, who also mentored Moreno. "Amongst his many victories in the lab, he completed the total syntheses of several akuammiline alkaloids, which are molecules with remarkably complex structures that few would dare to pursue in the lab. I am delighted to see his receipt of the MEDI Early Career Investigator Award that recognizes the nation's rising stars in medicinal chemistry."
A Legacy of Excellence at UCLA
The recognition of Donaldson and Moreno continues a strong tradition of UCLA alumni receiving the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Early Career Investigator Award. Prior awardees from UCLA include Ph.D. alumni Evan Darzi (2025, Garg group), Gregg Barcan (2023, Kwon group), Kyle Quasdorf (2023, Garg group), and Ted Johnson (2011, Jung group).