Scripps Research chemist Benjamin Cravatt elected to American Philosophical Society

Benjamin Cravatt, the Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology and a professor of chemistry at Scripps Research, has been elected to the American Philosophical Society (APS), one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. Cravatt joins a distinguished cohort of members spanning disciplines across STEM and the humanities.

The APS was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin to bring together creative thinkers in the sciences and other fields of study for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge.” According to the APS, only 5,896 members have been elected since the society’s founding, and today there are approximately 1,000 members. Last year, Scripps Research partnered with the APS to host events related to the Society’s annual General Meeting.

Other notable members of the APS have included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin. Cravatt is the fourth scientist from Scripps Research to be elected.

Across biomedicine, Cravatt has redefined how scientists study and target disease-relevant proteins. This includes developing activity-based protein profiling (ABPP): a method that captures the activity and drug interactions of proteins on a global scale, from cells to whole organisms. ABPP has enabled the discovery of inhibitors and drug candidates that have advanced to clinical trials for treating various conditions, ranging from neurodegeneration to different forms of cancer. 

Cravatt has also founded numerous biotech companies, including Activx Biosciences (acquired by Kyorin Pharmaceuticals), Abide Therapeutics (acquired by Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals) and Vividion Therapeutics (acquired by Bayer).  

Prior honors bestowed on Cravatt include election to the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, as well as the AACR Award for Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research, the ASBMB Merck Award, the Bristol Myers Squibb Award for Enzyme Chemistry, the Cope Scholar Award, the Eli Lilly Prize in Biological Chemistry, the Heinrich Wieland Prize, the Jeremy Knowles Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry, the R35 Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute, the Searle Scholar Award, the Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, the William H. Nichols Medal from the New York Local Section of the American Chemical Society and the Wolf Prize in Chemistry.