Title: INNOVATION IN THE SYNTHESIS OF COMPLEX PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOUNDS

Director, Head, Chemical Research
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chemical and Synthetic Development Biography

Martin was born in England in 1977, obtaining his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Surrey, UK (1999), graduating with first class honors. He received his doctoral degree in Organic Chemistry (2002) from the University of Cambridge, UK, working under the direction of Dr. Stuart Warren. His thesis research involved sulfur participation chemistry, specifically the generation of thiiranium ions under basic conditions and their use in pyrrolidine synthesis. Martin then carried out post-doctoral research with Prof. Scott E. Denmark, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, working on the Lewis-base activation of Lewis-acids and understanding ligand-field theory in hyper-valent silyl cations.
In 2005 Martin joined Bristol-Myers Squibb and is currently a Director in Chemical and Synthetic Development. Martin has led several teams to develop novel approaches to complex molecular systems, designing commercial approaches to important drug candidates (such as the HIV attachment inhibitor BMS-663068). Martin currently has responsibility for all small molecule programs (IND-tox through Ph2b), leads chemistry recruiting for BMS-Chemical Development, is a site-Chair for the BMS Unrestricted-Grant Committee, coordinates academic consulting and the BMS-Scripps collaboration and initiated the BMS-Princeton collaboration. Martin was also a prior Chair (2007-2009) and Leadership Team member (2007-2012) of the BMS companywide scientific symposium.

Martin manages CSD-BBRC (BMS-Biocon Research Center in India) and coordinates the development and delivery of small-molecule compounds for IND-tox/FIH, he also conceived of and ran the ‘platform development team,’ which works on enabling chemical technologies to support the BMS portfolio.
Since joining BMS, Martin has co-authored multiple (>35) peer reviewed publications, is a co-inventor on several (>10) patent applications and has been invited to give more than 30 lectures at conferences and Universities. Martin has been the recipient of several awards including the GlaxoSmithKline Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Organic Chemistry; the BMS Chemistry Leadership Award (2008); BMS Galaxy Awards; and was selected as a 2011 ACS Young Investigator.