Rate My Professor Jindřich Kopeček

Jindřich Henry Kopeček, known as Henry Kopeček, is a Distinguished Professor of Molecular Pharmaceutics and Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Utah. He joined the faculty in 1986 after serving as Principal Investigator and Head of the Laboratory of Biodegradable Polymers at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague. Kopeček earned his M.S. in Macromolecular Chemistry from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague in 1961, Ph.D. in Macromolecular Chemistry from the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry in 1965, and D.Sc. in Chemistry from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in 1990. He conducted postdoctoral research at the National Research Council of Canada from 1967 to 1968. During his tenure at Utah, he chaired the Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry from 1999 to 2004, served as President of the Controlled Release Society from 1995 to 1996, and chaired the NIH Biomaterials and Biointerfaces Study Section from 2003 to 2006. He has been Director of the Center for Controlled Chemical Delivery since 2017.

Kopeček's research specializes in biorecognition of macromolecules, bioconjugate chemistry, drug delivery systems, self-assembled biomaterials, and drug-free macromolecular therapeutics. His laboratory has developed hydrogels now in clinical use and HPMA copolymer-anticancer drug conjugates advanced to clinical trials. With over 460 publications, his work has a Hirsch index of 105 and more than 39,881 citations (Google Scholar, November 2024). Select publications include "Hydrophilic Biomaterials: From Crosslinked and Self-Assembled Hydrogels to Polymer-Drug Conjugates and Drug-Free Macromolecular Therapeutics" (J. Controlled Release, 2024), "Multiantigen T-Cell Hybridizers: A Two Component T-Cell Activating Therapy" (ACS Nano, 2024), "Diverse applications of nanomedicine" (2017, 1526 citations), "Hydrogel biomaterials: a smart future?" (2007, 1321 citations), and "HPMA copolymer–anticancer drug conjugates: design, activity, and mechanism of action" (2000, 718 citations). His contributions have earned him election to the National Academy of Engineering (2011), fellowship in the National Academy of Inventors (2018), Founders Award of the Controlled Release Society (1999), Lifetime Achievement Award from the Journal of Drug Targeting (2011), and Doctor of Philosophy Honoris Causa from the University of Helsinki (2014). Kopeček serves on the editorial boards of numerous journals, including Journal of Controlled Release and Biomaterials.