Stephen S. Hecht, Ph.D., named new Editor-in-Chief of Chemical Research in Toxicology

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2012 — The American Chemical Society (ACS) announces that Stephen S. Hecht, Ph.D., will take over as Editor-in-Chief of Chemical Research in Toxicology in January 2013. Hecht is the Winston R. and Maxine H. Wallin Land Grant Professor of Cancer Prevention and American Cancer Society Professor at the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and currently serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

Hecht will succeed Lawrence J. Marnett, Ph.D., who will retire from the journal at the end of this year. Marnett, Mary Geddes Stahlman Professor of Cancer Research and professor of biochemistry, chemistry and pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, has served as Editor-in-Chief of Chemical Research in Toxicology since he helped found the journal in 1988. Marnett will assist with the transition and remain with the journal in his current role through the end of 2012.

“Professor Hecht’s distinguished career, his experience in both chemical toxicology and medicinal chemistry and his vision for the future of the journal will serve him well as the editor of Chemical Research in Toxicology,” said Susan King, senior vice president of the Journals Publishing Group at ACS.

Hecht, elected an ACS Fellow in 2009, received his B.S. in chemistry from Duke University in 1964 and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968. He joined the Masonic Cancer Center in 1996, where his research interests center on elucidating the mechanisms of chemical carcinogenesis in humans, including those related to tobacco-induced cancer. His group looks for carcinogen biomarkers and applies them to molecular epidemiology and cancer prevention, and more specifically, to the prevention of lung and esophageal cancer.

Outgoing Editor Marnett said of Hecht, “He is the second-leading author over the past 25 years of all the authors who have published in the journal. His work is very high quality, very rigorous and very chemical. He appreciates what the journal has meant in the community, and I know he’s very interested in seeing it flourish.”

Hecht has received numerous awards, including the Joseph Cullen Award from the American Society of Preventive Oncology in 2012, the Founders’ Award from the ACS Division of Chemical Toxicology in 2009 and the American Association for Cancer Research-Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation Award for Excellence in Cancer Prevention Research in 2006.

Chemical Research in Toxicology publishes new and original research on the chemical basis of toxic responses in living organisms. That research includes how cells and organisms respond to chemical or biological toxic agents and how those agents can lead to disease. Chemical Research in Toxicology received 10,444 total citations in 2011. The journal also has a high Impact Factor of 3.779, as reported by the 2011 Journal Citation Reports^® (Thomson Reuters, 2012).

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society contact newsroom@acs.org.

###