mechanism | medicinal chemistry | chemical biology
Derek is an Ottawa native - born and raised. He attended Colonel By Secondary School and then Carleton University, from which he graduated with Highest Honours in Chemistry in 1999. A life-changing experience as an undergraduate researcher with Dr. Keith Ingold at the National Research Council inspired Derek to pursue a career in research. Supported by a post-graduate scholarship from NSERC, he attended Vanderbilt University for his Ph.D. studies under the supervision of Professor Ned Porter. He then carried out post-doctoral research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Professor Wilfred van der Donk, where he was supported by a fellowship from the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research. Excited to return to Canada, Derek began his independent career in 2005 at Queen's University as Canada Research Chair in Free Radical Chemistry, which he renewed following his recruitment to the University of Ottawa in 2010. He was promoted to Full Professor in 2016 and became University Research Chair in Free Radical Chemistry in 2021.In addition to his normal academic duties, Derek currently serves as a member of NSERC's Chemistry Evaluation Group and is an Associate Editor for Science Advances, the open-access extension of Science magazine.
Abridged Curriculum Vitae
Professional Experience
2016- Full Professor, University of Ottawa
2014-2017 Director of Graduate Studies in Chemistry, University of Ottawa
2010-2016 Associate Professor, University of Ottawa
2005-2010 Assistant Professor, Queen’s University
Honours & Awards
2024 Bernard Belleau Award, Canadian Society for Chemistry
2023 Howard Alper Award for Excellence in Research, uOttawa
2021-2026 University Research Chair in Free Radical Chemistry
2020 Excellence in Research Award, Faculty of Science, uOttawa
2018 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
2016 Discovery Accelerator Award, NSERC
2015 Keith Fagnou Award, Canadian Society for Chemistry
2011-2016 Canada Research Chair in Free Radical Chemistry
2007 Polanyi Prize in Chemistry, Ontario Council on Graduate Studies
2006 Early Researcher Award, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation
2006 Journal Award, Thieme-Verlag
2005-2010 Canada Research Chair in Free Radical Chemistry
Upcoming Lectures
FASEB Conference on Ferroptosis, Oxidative Stress, and Lipid Metabolism, Scottsdale, AZ (July 27-31, 2025)
25th Tetrahedron Symposium, Bruges, Belgium (July 1-4, 2025)
University of Antwerp, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Belgium (June 30, 2025)
Seoul National University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Seoul, South Korea (June 19, 2025)
11th Pacific Symposium on Radical Chemistry, Seoul, South Korea (June 15-19, 2025)
Recent Lectures
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Newark, NJ (2025)
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA (2025)
University of Alberta (2024)
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China (2024)
3rd Cold Spring Harbor Asia Conference on Ferroptosis, Suzhou, China (2024)
University of Edinburgh, UK (2024)
15th European Conference on Organic Free Radicals, Manchester, UK (2024)
1st Bern Symposium on Radical Chemistry, Bern, Switzerland (Plenary, 2024)
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland (2024)
107th Canadian Chemistry Conference & Exhibition, Winnipeg, MB (Belleau Award Lecture, 2024)
Canadian ORGanic Invitational Virtual Seminar - CORGI (2023)
Louisiana State University, Department of Pathology, Shreveport, LA (2023)
10th Pacific Symposium on Radical Chemistry, Kyoto, Japan (2023)
University of Vermont School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Burlington, VT (2023)
Annual Meeting of the DFG SPP2306 on Ferroptosis, Dresden, Germany (Keynote, 2022)
Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany (2022)
Institute for Chemical Research, University of Kyoto, Japan (2022)
2nd Cold Spring Harbor Asia Conference on Ferroptosis, Awaji, Japan (2022)
29th Intl. Symposium on the Organic Chemistry of Sulfur, Guelph, ON (Plenary, 2022)
GRC on Thiol-Based Redox Regulation and Signaling, Castelldefels, Spain (2022)
105th Canadian Chemistry Conference & Exhibition, Calgary, AB (2022)
Stanford University, CA (2022)
Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology, Nashville, TN (2022)
Pacifichem; Symposium on New Organusulfur Chemistry, Honolulu, HI (2021)
Arizona State University, BioDesign Institute, Tempe, AZ (2020)
University of Zurich, Switzerland (2019)
5th Swiss Chemical Society - Syngenta Symposium, Stein, Switzerland (Plenary, 2019)
BASF Corp., Tarrytown, NY (2019)
University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (Ayer Lecture, 2019)
9th Pacific Symposium on Radical Chemistry, Pacific Grove, CA (2019)
University of Giessen, Germany (Liebig College Lectures, 2019)
Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany (2019)
University of Bonn, Germany (2019)
University of Padova, Italy (2019)
University of Regensburg, Germany (2019)
Technical University of Munich, Germany (2019)
Infineum Co., Milton Hill, UK (2019)
University of Manchester, UK (2019)
University of Kiel, Germany (2019)
WE Heraeus Seminar on Physical Organic Chemistry, Bad Honnef, Germany (2019)
University of Munich, Germany (2019)
University of Munster, Germany (2019)
Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2018)
1st Cold Spring Harbour Asia Conference on Ferroptosis, Suzhou, China (2018)
14th European Conference on Organic Free Radicals, Marseille, France (Plenary, 2018)
BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany (2018)
University of Giessen, Germany (2018)
2nd Intl. Symposium on Lipid Oxidation and Antioxidants, Graz, Austria (Keynote, 2018)
Graz University of Technology, Austria (2018)
Columbia University (Novartis Lecture, 2017)
University of North Carolina (2017)
University of Toronto (2017)
RACI National Centenary Conference, Melbourne, Australia (Keynote, 2017)
8th Pacific Symposium on Radical Chemistry, Brisbane, Australia (2017)
100th Canadian Chemistry Conference & Exhibition, Toronto, ON (2017)
BASF Corp., Tarrytown, NY (2017)
Politecnico di Milano, Italy (2017)
University of California at Santa Barbara (2017)
University of California at Los Angeles (2017)
University of California at Irvine (2017)
Nipissing University, North Bay, ON (2016)
12th International Symposium on Organic Free Radicals, Shanghai, China (2016)
36th Reaction Mechanisms Conference, St. Louis, MO (2016)
Infineum Co., Linden, NJ (2016)
99th Canadian Chemistry Conference & Exhibition, Halifax, NS (2016)
BASF Corp., Tarrytown, NY (2016)
University of Bologna, Italy (2016)
University of Paris 6 - Pierre and Marie Curie, France (2016)
Ecole Polytechnique - Paris-Saclay, France (2016)
University of Münster, Germany (2016)
Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany (2016)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (2016)
University of Calgary (2016)
Pacifichem - Bioorganic Reaction Mechanisms Symposium, Honolulu, HI (2015)
Pacifichem - New Organosulfur Chemistry Symposium, Honolulu, HI (2015)
Pacifichem - Reactive Intermediates & Unusual Molecules Symposium, Honolulu, HI (2015)
University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute (2015)
University of Quebec at Montreal (2015)
7th Pacific Symposium on Radical Chemistry, Singapore (2015)
University of Oxford, UK (2015)
Infineum Co., Milton Hill, UK (2015)
98th Canadian Chemistry Conference & Exhibition, Ottawa (Fagnou Award Lecture, 2015)
Exxon-Mobil Corp., Clinton, NJ (2015)
Infineum USA, Linden, NJ (2015)
BASF Corp., Tarrytown, NY (2015)
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (2015)