Webster Santos appointed Blackwood Junior Faculty Fellow of Life Sciences
Webster Santos, assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Science at Virginia Tech, was recently appointed as the Blackwood Junior Faculty Fellow of Life Sciences by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The fellowship was established in 2006 and awarded for the first time this year with a gift from Mary and Willis Blackwood to support and advance instruction, research, and collaboration in the life sciences with a complementary focus on the development of entrepreneurial opportunities. The recipient will work with the Bringing Science to Market program, a collaborative effort between the College of Science and the Pamplin College of Business. The fellowship appointment is for three years.
A member of the Virginia Tech faculty since 2006, Santos is an expert in drug discovery and has a strong interest in drug development. His research is currently focused on the development of new drugs for cancer therapy; his work has implications for patients with breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer.
He has received five patents and has a sixth disclosure in preparation with Virginia Tech Intellectual Property. He has 17 published papers in peer-reviewed journals, and six others submitted or in preparation. He has current and pending grant funding from the National Institutes of Health to support his drug discovery research and has an active laboratory that involves both undergraduate and graduate students in chemistry.
Santos received his bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. His postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University from 2002 to 2006 was funded by a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health.
