DEREK A. PRATT
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 motivated Derek to ignore the call to medical school and pursue pure science. Supported by 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 Jane Coffin Childs Fellowship. He returned to Canada to begin his independent career in 2005 at Queen's University as Canada Research Chair in Free Radical Chemistry, and was subsequently recruited to the University of Ottawa in 2010.
Derek is passionate about family, science, food, wine, music, travel and sports.
Abridged Curriculum Vitae
Professional Experience
2016-Present 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
2018 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
2016 NSERC Discovery Accelerator Award
2015 Canadian Society for Chemistry Keith Fagnou Award
2011-2016 Canada Research Chair in Free Radical Chemistry
2007 Polanyi Prize in Chemistry
2006 Early Researcher Award
2006 Thieme-Verlag Journal Award
2005-2010 Canada Research Chair in Free Radical Chemistry
Upcoming Invited Lectures
Pacifichem, Honolulu, HI (December 15-20, 2020)
29th International Symposium on the Organic Chemistry of Sulfur, Guelph, ON (July 26-31, 2020)
GRC on Thiol-Based Redox Regulation and Signaling, Castelldefels, Spain (July 12-17, 2020)
13th International Symposium on Organic Free Radicals, Muenster, Germany (June 1-5, 2020)
102nd Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Winnipeg, MB (May 24-28, 2020)
East China Normal University, Shanghai (April 24, 2020)
2nd CSH Asia Conf. on Iron, ROS and Ferroptosis, Suzhou, China (April 20-24, 2020)
Arizona State University BioDesign Institute, Tempe, AZ (January 31, 2020)
Invited Lectures (past 5 years)
University of Zurich, Switzerland (2019)
5th Swiss Chemical Society - Syngenta Symposium, Stein, Switzerland (Plenary, 2019)
BASF Corp., Tarrytown, NY (2019)
University of Alberta (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)
CSH Asia Conf. on Iron, ROS, and Ferroptosis in Life, Death & Disease, Suzhou, China (2018)
EuCHeMS 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 and 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 and 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 and Exhibition, Ottawa (2015)
Exxon-Mobil Corp., Clinton, NJ (2015)
Infineum USA, Linden, NJ (2015)
BASF Corp., Tarrytown, NY (2015)
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (2015)