Professor Heather Maynard, UCLA’s Dr. Myung Ki Hong Endowed Chair in Polymer Science, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of her groundbreaking contributions to the fields of polymer and materials chemistry, her exceptional scholarship, and her leadership within the department and broader scientific community.
“Heather’s election to the Academy not only highlights the national and international impact of her work, but also brings great distinction to our department and to UCLA,” said Department Chair Professor Alex Spokoyny. “We look forward to celebrating this well-deserved achievement.”
Maynard makes major contributions to the area of protein-polymer conjugates, which are important therapeutics for a variety of diseases. She develops new synthetic methods to synthesize the materials, invents new polymers to improve properties such as stability, and demonstrates preclinical efficacy of her conjugates with an eye towards translation for human health. Maynard also works in the area of smart materials for precision medicine: materials that respond to disease states in the body. Her current focus is on delivery of drugs to treat diabetes.
Maynard’s research has been recognized by numerous awards, most recently the American Chemical Society Herman Mark Senior Scholar Award and Arthur Cope Scholar Award, and Macrogroup United Kingdom Medal for Outstanding Achievement. She is also an award winning teacher at UCLA.
Maynard is an American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Chemical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Leverhulme, Kavli Frontiers, and Royal Society of Chemistry Fellow and was a member of the United States Defense Science Study Group.
Membership in the National Academy of Sciences is one of the highest honors a scientist in the United States can receive. Previous electees have included Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Thomas Edison, Orville Wright and Alexander Graham Bell.
UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry current and emeriti faculty who are members of the National Academy of Sciences are Professors Richard Dickerson, David Eisenberg, Mostafa El-Sayed, Juli Feigon, Miguel Garcia-Garibay, Ken Houk, Wayne Hubbell, James Liao, Raphael Levine, Sabeeha Merchant, and Joan Valentine. Deceased members were Professors Richard Bernstein, Paul Boyer, Orville Chapman, Donald Cram, M. Frederick Hawthorne, and Howard Reiss.
Four UCLA faculty members were elected to the National Academy of Sciences this year. Read the UCLA Newsroom article to learn more.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@gmail.ucla.edu.
