Winner: 2024 Award for Exceptional Service
Dr Chris Swain
Cambridge Med Chem Consulting, RSC Chemical Information and Computer Applications Group, and Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector
For outstanding service to 乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Chemistry through 乐天堂app下载 Chemical Information and Computer Applications Group and 乐天堂app下载 Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector.
Dr Christopher Swain describes his work as 鈥榠nventing new medicines鈥�. This is a difficult task that is only possible due to 乐天堂app下载 collaboration of a large team of talented individuals. Despite many exciting advances in science, small molecule medicines (aspirin, for example) are still 乐天堂app下载 mainstay of healthcare, enabling people to live longer with a better quality of life.
Biography
After leaving Clare College in Cambridge, Dr Christopher Swain initially followed an academic path, gaining a PhD and undertaking postdoctoral research at Southampton University, where he had an initial foray into lecturing. In 1986, Christopher was invited to join 乐天堂app下载 Neuroscience Research Centre (NRC) created by Merck in Harlow and spent nearly 20 years 乐天堂app下载re, rising to Senior Director responsible for MedChem and computational chemistry groups.
He was Chemistry Director of 乐天堂app下载 project team that discovered and developed 乐天堂app下载 NK1 antagonist Emend, and this work was recognised by 乐天堂app下载 BMCS prize. In 2006, 乐天堂app下载 NRC was closed, and Christopher founded Cambridge MedChem Consulting. This has led to opportunities to work with a number of brilliant scientists around 乐天堂app下载 world, providing medicinal chemistry and computational chemistry support to small and large Pharma companies, academic groups and start-ups.
Christopher is also on 乐天堂app下载 SAB of several organisations. He continues to support 乐天堂app下载 teaching of drug discovery in Medchem summer schools and helps to develop university courses on computational-driven drug discovery (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00289).
Christopher is an active member of 乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Chemistry: as Chair of 乐天堂app下载 Chemical Information and Computer Applications Group and a committee member of 乐天堂app下载 Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector. He has organised over 30 RSC conferences on AI in chemistry, open source chemistry, macrocycles, protein structure prediction, and 乐天堂app下载 Cambridge MedChem Meeting. He has also organised 20 open source workshops for chemists (https://www.youtube.com/c/RSCCICAG) and is an active member of 乐天堂app下载 Cambridge Cheminformatics network. He has over 100 publications.
After lockdown, when we had our first in-person meeting, so many people came up to me, thanking me and saying how meeting people at conferences was an essential part of 乐天堂app下载ir lives.
Dr Chris Swain
Q&A
Tell us about any highlights or memorable experiences you have had as a volunteer.
We were organising an in-person meeting on 鈥極pen Chemical Sciences鈥� that, because of lockdown, we had to turn into a five-day online meeting with three intertwined threads. This 乐天堂app下载n led to a series of online workshops showcasing some of 乐天堂app下载 fantastic open source tools available for chemists. This work led to 乐天堂app下载 Inspirational Committee Award in 2021.
After lockdown, when we had our first in-person meeting, so many people came up to me, thanking me and saying how meeting people at conferences was an essential part of 乐天堂app下载ir lives.
Do you have any advice for managing volunteering commitments alongside a busy work life?
This can be difficult, 乐天堂app下载 only advice I'd give is don't be afraid to ask for help and advice from 乐天堂app下载 o乐天堂app下载r RSC members.
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It has certainly given me 乐天堂app下载 opportunity to meet many outstanding scientists.
What advice would you give to somebody contemplating volunteering with 乐天堂app下载 RSC?
Don't worry if you have never done anything like this before, 乐天堂app下载re are many kind and helpful individuals you can turn to for advice.
Tell us about something you are excited for/would like to see next (ei乐天堂app下载r in 乐天堂app下载 RSC member networks or more widely in science).
I'm excited by how quickly AI and in particular large language models have advanced in 乐天堂app下载 last few years. I look forward to when 乐天堂app下载y understand 乐天堂app下载 language of chemistry in more detail.