Merck funds professorship to honor chemist Arthur Patchett '51

The Merck Company Foundation recently donated $3 million to the University for the establishment of a chemistry professorship in honor of Arthur Patchett '51, who has worked at Merck Research Laboratories both as a researcher and former vice president of medicinal chemistry for four decades.

Patchett — who retired from Merck last year but continues to act as a consultant for the company — majored in chemistry at Princeton, graduated Phi Beta Kappa and earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Harvard University, where he worked in the laboratories of Nobel laureate R. B. Woodward.

At Merck, Patchett conducted groundbreaking research in medicine, which "saved many lives," said Merck spokeswoman Janet Skidmore.

Patchett developed major cardiovascular drugs, including the ACE inhibitors enalapril and lisinopril and the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors lovastatin and simvastatin.

"The award is an effort on our part to honor Arthur Patchett, who is a long-term and productive employee at Merck," Skidmore said. "We want to ensure that his name will be connected to his alma mater."

In a recent press release, Thomas Salzmann, senior vice president for basic research at Merck's research laboratories in Rahway, N.J, said, "Art Patchett played an absolutely pivotal role in the invention of some of the most important and widely used families of drugs available today . . . We are delighted to establish this chair at Art's alma mater in recognition of a truly remarkable career in science."

"This new professorship will make it possible for [the chemistry department] to expand our activities in the area of organic synthesis, which is critical to the development of the new medicines we all depend on," said Chairman of the Department of Chemistry George McLendon.

A search will be conducted over the next year for an appropriate candidate. When asked what Merck hopes will be done with the professorship, Skidmore said, "We are just looking to select the right person for the new chair, who, like Dr. Patchett, will go on to make great contributions."