related compounds increase topoisomerase II-mediated DNA cleavage and to develop novel members of this

chemical class with enhanced activity against type II topoisomerases and cancer cells. I am a chemist with

expertise in synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry. My graduate work focused on the development of new

applications of organosilicon reagents. As part of my dissertation work I successfully generated a silyl anion

equivalent as silicon-based nucleophile for silicon-carbon bond formation. The implication of having a silyl

moiety in a molecule is the stability of the Si-C bond. The molecule can be carried through multiple synthetic

sequence being robust to several reaction conditions, but can be easily removed using tetrabutylammonium

fluoride (aka TBAF). During my postdoctoral training I began working on the synthesis and pharmacological

evaluation of N-phenylcarbonylamino-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine devoid of toxicity even at high dose levels, as

nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory and hyperglycemic agents. The above work led to three peer-reviewed

publications. I also worked as an NIH minority fellow in postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Professor

Gary L. Grunewald in the medicinal Chemistry program at University of Kansas. It was here that I developed

interest on the role of fluorine in drug discovery. My project at University of Kansas was to synthesize

fluorinated tetrahydroisoquinoline (THIQ) derivatives as inhibitors of phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase

devoid of α2-adrenoceptor affinity, for the treatment of high blood pressure. I have a long-standing interest in

chemistry outreach and mentoring of students. I was the founder of the first-ever student chapter of the

American Chemical Society at University of Arkansas Pine Bluff. I was also faculty advisor for the chemistry

club at Tennessee State University and was responsible for the award of three plaques as an outstanding

chapter for three consecutive years. In addition, I was chair of the Nashville section of American Chemical

Society. In addition to the above experience and to broaden my interest in drug discovery I attended a weeklong

American Chemical Society (ACS) course in Computational Chemistry and Computer-Assisted Drug

Design: Practical Approaches in 2004 at University of Texas, Austin and another ACS Short Course in

Structure Based Drug Design in San Francisco, CA in 2013. My research group at Tennessee State University

(TSU) was the first to develop procedure for the synthesis of fluorinated beta-diketone, which is currently used

as a versatile fluorine building block for the synthesis of a wide range of biologically active compounds, with

potential as anticancer agents. My current research focus is on medicinal and computational chemistry aimed

at anticancer drug discovery. In addition to small molecule synthesis, we perform structure-based/ fragment

based design, including virtual screening and qsar. I have mentored well over twenty undergraduate students

and a dozen masters students in chemistry at Tennessee State University, most of who have gone on to

complete their doctoral degrees in Chemistry at prestigious and larger institutions.