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PROGRAMME DIRECTORS
Prof Michael Willis
Michael Willis is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Lincoln College. He graduated from Imperial College, University of London, before moving to the University of Cambridge for his PhD studies, working with Professor Steve Ley. He then spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University working with Professor David Evans. In 1997 he returned to the UK and he was appointed to a Lectureship in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath. He moved to Oxford in January 2007, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2013. His research interests are based around the development of new catalytic processes and their application in synthesis, which has more recently included the development of new catalytic reactions using sulfur dioxide. His work has been recognised by the award of the 2015 Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Syngenta Process Chemistry Research Award, the 2014 Royal Society of Chemistry Catalysis in Organic Chemistry Award, and 2008 AstraZeneca Award in Synthetic Organic Chemistry.
Prof Jonathan Burton
Jonathan Burton is Professor of Organic Chemistry and a Tutorial Fellow at Somerville College. He heads-up a research group working on numerous aspects of organic synthesis, methodology, reactivity, and structure determination. Jonathan began his independent research career as a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge (2000-2006) before moving to Oxford in 2007. Before this he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Cambridge with Andrew Holmes (methodology and natural product synthesis) and a Post-Doctoral researcher with Alex Alexakis in Paris (enantioselective catalysis). He obtained his B.A. (Chemistry) from the University of Oxford and his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge working with Andrew Holmes on medium-ring ether natural products.
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR & PROGRAMME MANAGER
Dr Lara Lourenço Venda
With a Biochemistry background, Lara obtained her DPhil at Oxford researching molecular and cell biology in the context of Parkinson’s disease. She then moved to Imperial College London for postdoctoral research looking at genomics of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, before joining the SBM CDT team in 2014. Lara is responsible for overall coordination of the programme and day-to-day organisation, including admissions, marketing and liaising with SBM CDT industrial partners.
PREVIOUS PROGRAMME DIRECTORS
Prof Darren Dixon
Darren is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, where he holds the Knowles-Williams Tutorial Fellowship in Organic Chemistry at Wadham College. He has published more than 150 papers and was the recipient of the RSC’s inaugural ‘Catalysis in Organic Chemistry Award’, the ‘2010 AstraZeneca Research Award in Organic Chemistry’ and an EPSRC Leadership Fellowship.
