Professor Heather Maynard, UCLA’s Dr. Myung Ki Hong Endowed Chair in Polymer Science, has been selected as one of the three recipients of the 2024 Herman F. Mark Scholar Awards from the Polymer Chemistry Division of the ACS.
The award includes a plaque and an honorarium of $1,500. The Mark Scholars will be honored at the upcoming Fall ACS meeting in Denver, CO, in August, where they will also deliver a lecture at the Herman F. Mark Symposium.
Maynard is a global leader in the field of protein-polymer conjugates, vital therapeutics for various diseases. She pioneers new synthetic methods for creating these materials, develops novel polymers to enhance properties like stability, and demonstrates the preclinical efficacy of her conjugates with a focus on translation for human health. Additionally, Maynard contributes to the field of smart materials for precision medicine, designing materials that react to disease states within the body.
Maynard has received several recent awards and honors for her work in polymer chemistry and biomaterials. These include the American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, the Macro Group UK Outstanding Achievement Award, and the UCLA Student Development Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2023. Maynard is also an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
