ACS celebrates its 2023 Heroes of Chemistry

Teams of chemical scientists from AbbVie and Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Honeywell, Incyte, Merck & Co., Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and ViiV Healthcare received 2023 Heroes of Chemistry Awards at a banquet in Alexandria, Virginia, on Oct. 12. The researchers were recognized for advancements in a number of areas: treating chronic hepatitis C, creating non-ozone-depleting greenhouse gas alternatives, developing a versatile treatment for rare blood cancers and graft-versus-host disease, designing a general anesthesia drug with reduced side effects, coming up with drugs that target and correct genetic abnormalities that cause cystic fibrosis, and improving HIV treatment. Now in its 27th year, the Heroes of Chemistry Awards recognizes scientists whose use of chemistry acts as a service to society. The award is based on three criteria: technical merit, commercial impact, and benefit to humankind. It is the American Chemical Society’s most prestigious distinction for industrial chemists and is supported by ACS’s Board Committee on Corporation