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ACS honors Novartis for ENTRESTO® (sacubitril/valsartan), an angiotensin receptor neprilysin
inhibitor (ARNI) delivering concomitant neprilysin inhibition and blockage of the angiotensin II
type-1 receptor, approved to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and heart failure (HF)
hospitalization in adults with chronic HF.
Thomas Blacklock
Thomas J. Blacklock received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the State University of New York
at Buffalo and was awarded a NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship for his proposal in natural product
synthesis at the University of Rochester. As an undergraduate at Indiana Institute of Technology,
he received the Heise Award for Excellence in Chemistry (1974) and the Chemical Rubber Co.
Freshman Chemistry Award (1971). Upon completion of his post doc, Blacklock joined Merck and Co.’s
process R&D group.
Reynalda DeJesus
Reynalda DeJesus started her industrial career with Novartis (then CIBA-Geigy) as an
Associate Scientist in the medicinal chemistry group, rising to Senior Scientist. Initially she worked
in the neuroscience area, on presynaptic dopamine agonists, k-opioid receptor agonists and
N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonists. DeJesus was part of the team that discovered Selfotel (CGS-19755).
Clive Diefenbacher
Clive Diefenbacher obtained his B.S. in Chemistry (1980) at University of Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts
and his M.S. in Chemistry (1982) from the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. He joined
the medicinal chemistry department of Novartis in 1982 (then Ciba-Geigy) and subsequently
worked on numerous projects in the cardiovascular area.
Lili Feng
Lili Feng received her B.S. (1995) and M.S. (1998) in Chemistry at Nankai University, China, and
subsequently her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in 2004 at
Michigan State University. Between 2004 and 2013, Feng worked at Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Corporation, Technical Research and Development Department ultimately as Senior Scientist, Fellow.
28 #HeroesofChemistry | 2021 Recipients
