Joshua Boger, founder and former CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, will speak at Bentley on Monday, April 11, at 3:30 p.m.in Wilder Pavilion. Following his address, "Biotechnology in the 21st Century," a reception will be held.
Boger retired as Vertex's CEO in May 2009, after over 20 years with the company, and continues to serve on the Vertex Board. Prior to founding Vertex in 1989, he served as Senior Director of Basic Chemistry at Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories in Rahway, N.J., where he headed both the departments of Biophysical Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry of Immunology & Inflammation. During his ten years at Merck, he developed an international reputation as a leader in the application of computer modeling to the chemistry of drug design and was a pioneer in the use of structure-based rational drug design as the basis for drug discovery programs.
His postdoctoral research in molecular recognition was performed in the laboratories of the Nobel-prize winning chemist, Jean-Marie Lehn in Strasbourg, France. He is the author of more than 50 scientific publications, holds 32 issued U.S. patents in pharmaceutical discovery and development, and has lectured widely in the United States, in Europe and in Asia on various aspects of drug discovery and development. He was named one of forty "Technology Pioneers" worldwide for the 2003 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
For more information, e-mail Fred Ledley.