NEWS

Double honors: UNC scientist appointed to two prestigious national societies

CHAPEL HILL -- Dr. Richard V. Wolfenden, Alumni Distinguished professor of chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and College of Arts and Sciences, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences on April 30.

Election to membership in the academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer. Wolfenden is the only scientist from North Carolina among 72 new members elected to the academy this year for distinguished and continuing original research achievements.

The honor came one day following Wolfenden’s appointment as fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences has included among its fellows George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Webster, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill. Current membership includes more than 150 Nobel laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners.

Wolfenden’s work on enzyme mechanisms and water affinities of biological compounds is considered a major influence in these areas. His research also influenced rational drug design. Findings from his laboratory helped spur development of ACE inhibitor drugs, a widely used type of medication for hypertension. Recent studies have focused on the catalytic power of enzymes, how they accelerate the rates of biochemical reactions by factors in excess of a quadrillion (10 to the 15^th power).

Wolfenden received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Princeton University in 1956. He received both bachelor’s (1958) and master’s (1960) degrees in animal physiology from Oxford University and his doctorate from Rockefeller University in 1964. He joined the UNC faculty in 1970. Wolfenden currently serves as chairman of the biological division of the American Chemical Society.

Wolfenden is the 11^th National Academy of Sciences member currently on the UNC faculty and the 24^th fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on the faculty.

- 30 -

Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/wolfenden_richard.jpg

Note: Contact Wolfenden at (919) 966-1203 or water@med.unc.edu

School of Medicine contact: Les Lang at (919) 843-9687 or llang@med.unc.edu