Dennis Dougherty

Dennis A. Dougherty is the George Grant Hoag Professor of Chemistry in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Bucknell University in 1974 and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1978, followed by postdoctoral training at Yale University in 1979. Dougherty joined Caltech as Assistant Professor in 1979, becoming Associate Professor in 1985, Professor in 1989, and George Grant Hoag Professor in 2002. He held the position of Executive Officer for Chemistry from 1994 to 1999, served as Director of the Beckman Institute beginning in 2018, and chaired the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from 2019 to 2024.

The research of Dougherty's group in Chemistry emphasizes organic chemistry and chemical biology to achieve a chemical-scale understanding of ion channels and neuroreceptors, proteins responsible for memory, learning, and sensory perception, as well as targets for pharmaceuticals treating Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and attention deficits. Employing organic synthesis, molecular biology, electrophysiology, and computer modeling, the group elucidates structural and mechanistic details of these membrane proteins. Additional pursuits include developing ion channels as platforms for novel signaling and sensing systems and studying the cation-π interaction as a key noncovalent force in structural biology. Dougherty co-authored the textbook Modern Physical Organic Chemistry with Eric V. Anslyn in 2006 and published the seminal paper "Cation-π Interactions in Chemistry and Biology: A New View of Benzene, Phe, Tyr, and Trp" in Science in 1996. His honors include election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2009, the ACS James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry in 2008, the Arthur C. Cope Award in 2020, the Richard C. Tolman Medal in 2010, the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from NIH in 2004, fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999, and Caltech teaching awards such as the ASCIT Excellence in Teaching Award in 1987 and 2000. Dougherty serves on editorial boards for the Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry, Supramolecular Chemistry, and Chemistry & Biology, and has contributed to committees including the NIH Bioorganic and Natural Products Chemistry Study Section from 1999 to 2003.