American Chemical Society names preeminent Yale University professor Alanna Schepartz, Ph.D., as new editor-in-chief of Biochemistry

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2, 2016 — The American Chemical Society (ACS) has announced that Alanna Schepartz, Ph.D., the Milton Harris ‘29 Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry and professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology has been appointed as the new editor-in-chief to lead Biochemistry, the Society’s long-standing, peer-reviewed journal that publishes research at the intersection of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology. Since 2005, Schepartz has served as an associate editor for the Society’s flagship Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), a position she will now relinquish as she assumes her new editorial post.

Schepartz joined the Yale University faculty in 1988, was promoted to associate professor in 1992, to full professor with tenure in 1995, and in 2000 was named the Milton Harris ‘29 Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry. She is the first woman to be granted tenure in Yale’s Department of Chemistry, and the first female full professor in any physical sciences department at Yale. In 2014, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and is a fellow of both the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and ACS. Schepartz has received many prestigious awards, including a David and Lucile Packard Fellowship; an ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award; the ACS Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry; the Dylan Hixon ‘88 Award for Teaching Excellence in the Natural Sciences; the Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award; the Frank H. Westheimer Prize Medal; the ACS Chemical Biology Prize and Lecture, for which she was the inaugural recipient; the Alexander M. Cruickshank Prize; the Ronald Breslow Award; and the Wheland Prize Medal.

Biochemistry, which began publication in 1961, is a premier multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing diverse global research directed toward understanding and characterizing fundamental mechanisms of complex biological phenomena in terms of cellular and molecular structure and underlying chemical function.

“Today, the field of biochemistry encompasses a wide range of intellectual pursuit,” Schepartz says. “It includes not just classic enzymology and detailed determinations of biomolecule structure and folding, but also the fundamental mechanistic drivers of more complex function including molecular machines, gene editing, vesicular trafficking, chemical oncology, the microbiome, and ancillary –omics techniques and the entirety of synthetic biology. Biochemistry is the natural outlet for outstanding and high-impact research in all of these areas, and is a widely-read forum where authors are aided by an established and extraordinary publishing infrastructure at the ACS, including active research scientists as senior editors, transparent and rapid peer review, and an unbridled commitment to scientific excellence.”

Schepartz succeeds Richard Armstrong, Ph.D., who served as Biochemistry’s editor-in-chief from 2004 until his untimely passing in mid- 2015, after which Charles Sanders, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and the Aileen M. Lange and Annie Mary Lyle Chair in Cardiovascular Research at Vanderbilt University, headed the journal in an interim capacity while an intensive international search for a successor was conducted by the Society.

“ACS is honored that Dr. Schepartz will bring her unparalleled expertise to bear as she takes the helm at Biochemistry,” says James Milne, Ph.D., senior vice president, Journals Publishing Group, ACS Publications. “With her broad knowledge of biochemical research, extensive relationships in the global research community and outstanding depth of editorial experience, ACS is confident that the journal will progress from strength to strength under her imaginative leadership, and will gain further in recognition as one of but a handful of influential publications that truly define the field of modern biochemistry.”

About ACS Publications
ACS Publications, a division of the American Chemical Society, is a nonprofit scholarly publisher of 50 peer-reviewed journals and a range of eBooks at the interface of chemistry and allied sciences, including physics and biology. ACS Publications journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature. Respected for their editorial rigor, ACS journals offer high-quality service to authors and readers, including rapid time to publication, a range of channels for researchers to access ACS Publications’ award-winning web and mobile delivery platforms, and a comprehensive program of open access publishing options for authors and their funders. ACS Publications also publishes Chemical & Engineering News — the Society’s newsmagazine covering science and technology, business and industry, government and policy, education and employment aspects of the chemistry field.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With nearly 157,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.