Christopher T. Walsh

Christopher T. Walsh
Christopher T. Walsh
Born	February 16, 1944; Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	January 10, 2023 (aged 78)
Alma mater	Harvard University (A.B.); Rockefeller University (Ph.D.)
Known for	Enzyme kinetics, antibiotic resistance
Awards	Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry (1979); Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (1998); Repligen Corporation Award in Chemistry of Biological Processes (1999); Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry (2003); Promega Biotechnology Research Award (2004); Welch Award in Chemistry (2010); Benjamin Franklin Medal (2014)
	Scientific career
Fields	Biochemistry
Institutions	Brandeis University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Harvard Medical School; Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Thesis	The Mechanism of Action of the Citrate Cleavage Enzyme (1970)
Doctoral advisor	Leonard B. Spector
Other academic advisors	Robert H. Abeles
Notable students	Michael Marletta; Peter G. Schultz; Yian Shi; Gregory L. Verdine

Christopher T. Walsh (February 16, 1944 – January 10, 2023) was a Hamilton Kuhn professor of biological chemistry and pharmacology at Harvard Medical School.^[1] His research focused on enzymes and enzyme inhibition, and most recently focused on the problem of antibiotic resistance.^[2] He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1989.^[2]

Education

He earned his A.B. degree in biology from Harvard University in 1965. As an undergraduate, he worked with E. O. Wilson and published a first author paper in the journal Nature, where he and his colleagues described the composition of the fire ant trail substance.^[3] He went on to graduate school at Rockefeller University, where he earned his Ph.D. in life science in 1970.^[2]^[4]^[5]

Career

Walsh completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Robert Abeles at Brandeis University in 1972, and later that year joined the faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a professor of chemistry and biology. In 1987, he joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School to serve as the chair of the newly created Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. He served as the president and CEO of the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute from 1992 to 1995.^[5] Walsh authored more than 650 publications in scholarly journals and trained several graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.^[2]^[4] Among his professional activities, Walsh was a member of the Board of Scientific Governors of The Scripps Research Institute,^[6] the American Philosophical Society,^[7] The National Academy of Sciences,^[8] Institute of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Microbiology.

Personal life

Walsh was born in Boston and went to Roxbury Latin School. Walsh died following a fall on January 10, 2023, at the age of 78. He was married to Diana Chapman Walsh who was the president of Wellesley College from 1993 to 2007. They have one daughter, Allison Kurian, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Stanford University.^[5]^[9]

Notable publications

Books

Enzymatic Reaction Mechanisms (1978). Published by Freeman Inc (ISBN 978-0-7167-0070-8).
Antibiotics: Actions, Origins, Resistance (2003), by Christopher Walsh. Published by ASM Press (ISBN 978-1-55581-254-6).
Post-translation Modification of Proteins: Expanding Nature's Inventory (2006), by C.T. Walsh. Published by Roberts and Company (ISBN 0-9747077-3-2).^[10]

References

^ "Walsh Laboratory". Harvard Medical School. Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Speakers: Christopher T. Walsh, Ph.D." Duke University Health System. 2006. Archived from the original on 9 September 2006. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
^ Walsh, Christopher T.; J.H. Law; E.O. Wilson (1965). "Purification of the Fire Ant Trail Substance". Nature. 207 (4994). Nature Publishing Group: 320–321. Bibcode:1965Natur.207..320W. doi:10.1038/207320b0. S2CID 4265580.
^ ^a ^b Beeson, Teresa D. "The Career of Christopher T. Walsh" (PDF). Retrieved 18 January 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Christopher T. Walsh Dies". Harvard Medical School. 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
^ "Leadership | Scripps Research". www.scripps.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
^ "Member Directory". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
^ Oldach, Laurel (January 13, 2023). "Biochemist Christopher T. Walsh dies at 79". cen.acs.org. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
^ van der Donk, Wilfred A (2005). "The protein modification repertoire". Nature Chemical Biology. 1 (5). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 243. doi:10.1038/nchembio1005-243. ISSN 1552-4450. S2CID 195304301.