Stephen W. Fesik

Stephen William Fesik is an American medicinal chemist and structural biologist known for his research on fragment-based lead discovery. He is a triple professor of biochemistry, a professor of pharmacology, a professor of chemistry, and the Orrin H. Ingram II Chair in Cancer Research and the Tadashi Inagami Chair in Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University.

Early life and education Fesik was raised in Lincoln, Rhode Island. His father was an accountant. under biochemist Alexandros Makriyannis. After receiving his doctorate, he completed postdoctoral research in molecular biophysics and biochemistry at the Yale School of Medicine.

Career Following his postdoctoral training, Fesik joined Abbott Laboratories, where he conducted research in structural biology and drug discovery for more than two decades. During his tenure he became Divisional Vice President of Cancer Research and led oncology drug discovery programs. While at Abbott, he and colleagues developed SAR by NMR, a method for identifying and optimizing small-molecule ligands using NMR spectroscopy.

In 2009, Fesik joined Vanderbilt University as Professor of Biochemistry, Pharmacology, and Chemistry. He was appointed the Orrin H. Ingram II Chair in Cancer Research and established a research program focused on the discovery of therapeutics for cancer and other diseases using structural biology and medicinal chemistry approaches.

Research Fesik's research has focused on fragment-based drug discovery, structure-based drug design, medicinal chemistry, and the application of NMR spectroscopy to drug discovery. His work has included the development of small-molecule inhibitors targeting protein–protein interactions and proteins involved in cancer biology, including members of the BCL-2 family, MCL-1, KRAS, MYC, and WDR5. He is known for developing the Structure–Activity Relationships by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (SAR by NMR) methodology, an approach used in fragment-based drug discovery.

SAR by NMR has been described in the scientific literature as one of the methods that established fragment-based drug discovery as a strategy in pharmaceutical research.

Honors and awards NIH Director's Pioneer Award (2010).

AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research (2012).

Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

SBS Technology Innovation Award.

Selected publications