Philip S. Portoghese was born in 1931 in New York City, New York. He received his B.Sc. in pharmacy in 1953 from Columbia University and his PhD in Pharmaceutical chemistry in 1961 from the University of Wisconsin. He joined the College of Pharmacy in 1961 and has since led the charge on contributions to the basic science related to drug design in the areas of chemistry and pharmacology. The international impact Portoghese's findings continue to have is game changing in every sense of the word.
After five decades of distinguished service at the University of Minnesota, he continues to gain recognition for his work around the world. An inductee into the University of Minnesota Academy of Excellence in Health Research, Portoghese is also the recipient of over ten other major awards for excellence, achievement, honor and outstanding contributions from national scientific societies including a MERIT funding award from the National Institutes of Health.
Portoghese served 40 years as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry making him the longest standing editor of the most prestigious and highly cited medicinal chemistry journal in the world.
Philip Portoghese's contributions at the University of Minnesota have also had an unquantifiable impact. As an effort to continue and expand research in the neurosciences, Portoghese donated $1 million to establish the Philip S. Portoghese Chair in Medicinal Chemistry.
He has trained over 100 graduate students, postdoctoral and visiting scientists from around the world.
Lecturers
Fall 2019
Dr. Maria-Laura Bolognesi
"Principles, Implementation, and Application of Multitarget Drug Discovery in Alzheimer’s Disease"
Fall 2018
Dr. P. Jeffrey Conn
"Allosteric Modulators of GPCRs as a Novel Approach for Treatment of Schizophrenias"
Spring 2018
Dr. Richard A. Glennon
"Drug Discrimination: A Behavioral Technique to Investigate Centrally-acting Agents"
2016
Dr. Lawrence Marnett
"Allosteric Inhibition of Cyclooxygenases and the Mechanism of Action of NSAIDS"
2015
Dr. Bryan Roth
"Genome wide approaches to GPCR chemical biology"
Dr. Craig Lindsley
"Allosteric modulation targeting mGlu1 and PLD: new insights and therapeutic potential"
2014
Dr. Victor J. Hruby
“Design of Multivalent Peptides and Peptidomimetics for the Detection and Treatment of Disease"
2013
Dr. Philip S. Portoghese
"Opioid Receptor Heterodimers: Favorable Marriages or Hazardous Liaisons?"