Biography

Dr. Wayne Childers holds the title of Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Temple University School of Pharmacy. He also serves as Associate Director of the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research, an academic drug discovery organization that resides in the School of Pharmacy. He received his B.A. in chemistry from Vanderbilt University in 1975 and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Georgia in 1984. Wayne trained as a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine from 1984 – 1987 where he studied bio-organic chemistry and drug design. He worked as a medicinal chemist in the pharmaceutical industry at Wyeth Research from 1987 – 2010, where he led several teams that advanced drug candidates to clinical trials before joining the University in 2010.

Wayne teaches Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery courses and has received the Golden Apple Award for Innovation in Teaching in 2013. His research involves the design, synthesis and testing of novel agents for the treatment of several diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, metabolic disorders, hyperlipidemia and infectious diseases as well as the design and synthesis of novel PET/SPECT imaging agents. He holds patents in the areas of anxiolytics, cognitive enhancers, anti-ischemic agents, antibiotics, anti-cancer agents and drugs for treating neuropathic pain. He has presented at national and international meetings, published in peer-reviewed journals and has authored in Fischer’s and Ganellin’s Analogue-Based Drug Discovery. He serves as a reviewer for numerous journals and as a scientific advisor to two biotech companies and one small pharmaceutical company. He is a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). Wayne serves on multiple college committees, including committees responsible for establishing and maintaining curriculum for PharmD students at Temple University and selecting incoming graduate students.