Tim Cernak​

 

Tim Cernak is an Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Michigan exploring the role of chemistry in conservation. The Cernak Lab explores wildlife diseases and invasive species as health challenges and applies tactics from the frontlines of modern drug discovery towards the improvement of ecosystem health. Current research interests include fibropapillomatosis in sea turtles, chytrid fungus in frogs, invasive insects, avian flu, and advocacy on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs for biomedical reagents.

 

Prior to joining the University of Michigan in 2018, Tim worked for 9 years at Merck Research Laboratories in Rahway, NJ and Boston, MA where he focused on drug design for oncology, neurological and metabolic diseases as well as developing enabling technologies to accelerate drug discovery. He holds appointments in the University of Michigan Department of Chemistry, the Program in Chemical Biology, the Center for Global Health Equity, the Michigan Institute for Data Science, and the Michigan Center for Infectious Disease Threats. Tim has served on the Advisory Board of The University of Dundee’s Drug Discovery Unit, The Open Reaction Database and Scorpion Therapeutics. He is a co-founder of Iambic Therapeutics and a Research Fellow of the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. 

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