Dr. Jennifer E. Golden is an Associate Professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also serves as the Associate Director of the UW-Madison Medicinal Chemistry Center and is the Chair of the Early Career Board of ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters. She completed her Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry at the University of Kansas (Prof. J. Aube) and postdoctoral work at Stanford University (Prof. P. Wender). Dr. Golden is a co-investigator on the Alphavirus Team (Project 5) in READDI-AC, where she focuses on the design and synthesis of broad-spectrum alphavirus inhibitors. Her experience in this area includes, in coordination with virologists, the identification and development of small molecules that potently attenuate replication of encephalitic alphaviruses. Dr. Golden brings nearly 20 years of synthetic medicinal chemistry experience from a career spanning industry and academia. At UW-Madison, she has established robust, well-funded, multidisciplinary drug discovery teams and a research platform that integrates the design, synthesis, and optimization of novel anti-infective agents directed at the improving human health scenarios for which few or no therapeutic options exist. She maintains highly collaborative relationships with biology experts to pursue drug discovery efforts, including programs directed at alphavirus intervention and parasitic diseases, both of which require design of specialized compounds that penetrate and spare cells in the CNS while effectively targeting pathogens of interest.
