| 1 | Name: | Dr. Christopher Walsh | |
| Institution: | Harvard Medical School | ||
| Year Elected: | 2003 | ||
| Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1944 | ||
| Death Date: | January 10, 2023 | ||
Christopher Walsh is a great enzymologist, a worldwide leader in studies of the mechanisms of enzymatic catalysis, with an emphasis on enzymes that are the targets of antibiotics. The Hamilton Kuhn Professor at Harvard University Medical School, he is also the author of major monographs in his field, including the classic "Enzymatic Reaction Mechanisms". Dr. Walsh's exceptionally wide-ranging oeuvre includes the dissection of enzymes that mediate the synthesis of antibiotics; the resistance to antibiotics; cell wall biosynthesis; detoxification of mercury-containing compounds; methanogenesis; and other processes. His work has also encompassed the design of mechanism-based inhibitors of medically important enzymes, the enzymatic synthesis of natural products such as antibiotic rifamycin and antitumor agent epothilone, and the understanding of the molecular basis of resistance to vancomycin, the antibiotic of last resort. In 2014 he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry from the Franklin Institute. | |||