Endowed Chair in Organic Chemistry
College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Chemistry
Gerald B. Hammond, Ph.D. is Professor and Endowed Chair in Organic Chemistry at the University of Louisville. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham in England. Before joining the University of Louisville in 2004, he served on the Chemistry faculty, U. Mass Dartmouth, receiving the Teacher-Scholar Award and the Scholar-Fellow Award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. G.B. also was a Fulbright Scholar in Chemistry, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. His productive research team focuses on organo-fluorine chemistry and plant medicinal natural products. In 2008, G.B. received the distinguished post of Program Director, Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program at the NSF.
Professor Hammond is the recipient of the 2011 University of Louisville A&S Career Achievement Award for A&S Outstanding Scholarship, Research, and Creative Activity.
Professor Hammond’s research interests include the following:
- Interactions of fluorine with organic and organometallic compounds, aimed toward the synthesis of fluorinated building blocks
- Systematic, international, and multidisciplinary studies of Peruvian medicinal plants targeting cancer and the so-called neglected diseases
- Development of environmentally friendly synthetic methodologies and external supports for the construction of organic molecules
- New anticancer therapies, in collaboration with faculty from other disciplines and institutions.