Philip F. Hughes, Ph.D. is the founder and president of InnovaSyn, LLC. Previously, Dr. Hughes was with Eli Lilly at its RTP location (formerly Sphinx). He was responsible for the invention, development and implementation of technology for high throughput organic synthesis (often known as combinatorial chemistry or parallel synthesis) and well as management of the analytical chemisty group. He was also responsible for delivering this technology in four major technology transfers to one CRO and three Japanese pharmaceutical companies.

Dr. Hughes joined Sphinx Pharmaceuticals in 1991 and, prior to Lilly’s acquisition in 1994, worked on protein kinase inhibitors. He was a major author on the total synthesis of balanol, a very potent natural product inhibitor of protein kinase C. Before Sphinx, Dr. Hughes was with Wyeth laboratories in the immuno-inflammation group and contributed to the development of Lodine and Rapamycin.

Dr. Hughes obtained his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Cornell University with Jon Clardy and his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Hughes has over fifty patents and publications in medicinal and organic chemistry. He was a faculty member of the Drew University Residential School of Medicinal Chemistry from 1999 to 2005, teaching on Chemical Diversity.

Since the ending of medicinal chemistry and eventual closing of Lilly's RTP site, Dr. Hughes founded InnovsSyn and has worked for Scynexis for one year and then for Serenex for two and a half years. In April 2008, Serenex was bought by Pfizer. After staying through September to help with the closing, Dr. Hughes took a longer than anticipated break but is now employed at a major university in Durham, NC.

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