Dr. Joel S. Freundlich attended Cornell University as a McMullen scholar and an Exxon scholar, attaining his B.S. degree with Distinction in Chemical Engineering in 1991 and his M. Eng. degree in Chemical Engineering in 1992. He received his Ph.D. degree in 1996 in Organic Chemistry with Richard R. Schrock – the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient. Dr. Freundlich was an active researcher in the biotech industry for ten years. His achievements are highlighted by contributions to three clinical submissions.
He is currently a Senior Research Scientist in the Biochemistry and Biophysics department at Texas A&M University and a Visiting Professor at Rutgers University in the Medicinal Chemistry department. His research seeks to leverage chemical techniques to 1) understand critical biological processes within Mtb that are essential to its lifecycle and interactions with the human immune system and 2) leverage this knowledge of essential enzyme and/or pathways to seed the discovery of novel antitubercular drugs.
This interview was conducted at JHU on November 13, 2009.