24/02/2013
Dr. Herbert T. Nagasawa, Executive Research Scientist
Dr. Nagasawa received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Western Reserve University (now, Case-Western Reserve) in Cleveland, Ohio, and a Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from the University of Minnesota. Subsequently, he spent two years as a Post-doctoral Fellow in biochemistry at the University of Minnesota before joining the research staff of the V.A. Medical Center in Minneapolis as a Senior Chemist. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Minnesota in 1959. He was named Principal Scientist of the VAMC in 1961 and was promoted in 1976 to Senior Research Career Scientist, a nationwide VA title reserved for the VA's top scientists. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1963 and to Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in 1973. He also held joint professorships in the Department of Pharmacology and the university-wide Division of Toxicology, and served as Visiting Professor at Washington State University in 1990. He also served for 32 years as a Senior Editor for the prestigious international Journal of Medicinal Chemistry from 1972 to 2004, and one year as Acting Editor-in-Chief. In addition, he served on the Editorial Board of the journal, Bioconjugate Chemistry for eight years, and as an ad hoc grant reviewer for the NCI and NIAAA, National Institutes of Health. He has published over 165 papers in peer-reviewed journals. In June of 2010, Herb attended the National Institutes of Health-Homeland Security 4th Annual Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats Network Symposium held in San Francisco. Herb and the team of scientists presented their work on the cyanide antidote.