Renowned Scientist Edward Roberts Joins Scripps Research

The Scripps Research Institute has announced the appointment of world-renowned chemist Edward Roberts as professor of translational chemistry and medicine in the institute's Department of Chemistry.

Roberts, who takes up his new responsibilities on February 1, has served for the past two years as senior vice president and chief scientific officer for Kémia, Inc., of San Diego, a company that discovers and develops new oral small molecular medicines to address clinically validated disease targets. Roberts headed Kémia's drug discovery efforts.

"Ed brings more than 20 years of the highest level of medicinal chemistry experience to Scripps Research and is noted in academia and the pharmaceutical industry for his successful, integrated approach to drug design," says Scripps Research President Richard A. Lerner. "Here, he will help fulfill our goal of making significant discoveries and moving them from the laboratory to the patient's bedside in a timely and efficient manner."

Roberts joins 31 faculty members, including two Nobel Prize recipients, in Scripps Research's Chemistry Department, chaired by K.C. Nicoloau, who is the Darlene V. Shiley Chair in Chemistry. The department was created specifically to bridge the long-standing gap between biology and chemistry, offering a unique program that blends highly sophisticated synthetic chemistry, molecular design, and bioorganic chemistry.

About Ed Roberts

A native of Britain, Roberts received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in biochemistry from the University of Sussex in 1979, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1982.

After three years teaching chemistry at the University of Wales, Cardiff, he joined the Parke-Davis Neuroscience Research Centre at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, England, in 1986.

He served as director of AstraZeneca Research and Development in Montreal, Canada, from 1994 to 1999, where he formed a new research group in the field of pain control on peripheral and central nervous system diseases. 

In 1999, he joined F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. in Basel, Switzerland, where he was senior vice-president and head of Discovery Chemistry. Roberts was responsible for drug discovery chemistry done in all the therapeutic areas represented at the corporate headquarters, which included diseases of the central nervous system as well as the vascular and metabolic therapeutic areas.

In addition, Roberts has authored more than 50 articles in major science journals, has presented papers at leading chemistry conferences around the world, and holds over 20 issued patents on discoveries.

Roberts, 47, lives in Fallbrook, California, with his wife, Jacqueline, and his three children, Oliver, Elliott and Owain. His leisure interests include playing woodwind instruments and studying Arthurian history.

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu