Career and Post-Graduate Development

Photo of Lamont R. Terrell, PhD
Photo of Lamont R. Terrell, PhD

Lamont R. Terrell, PhD

Title

Head, US R&D Early Talent Programs and University Diversity

Organization

GSK

Biography

Lamont graduated salutatorian from Texas Southern University as a Fredrick Douglas honor scholar earning a B.S degree in chemistry in 1995.  While at TSU, his life as a research scientist began doing undergraduate research focusing on the synthesis of inorganic compounds with environmental applications.  He earned his Ph.D. in 2001 in organic chemistry from Michigan State University under the direction and guidance of Professor Robert Maleczka.  His graduate studies consisted of the total synthesis of the antiluekemic natural product amphidinolide A and the development of catalytic tin hydride reactions. Upon completion of his graduate studies at MSU, he continued his synthetic training with a two-year postdoctoral stint with Professor Barry Trost at Stanford University.  The focus of his postdoctoral studies was the development of a catalytic dinuclear zinc asymmetric Mannich reaction.  He began his career in drug discovery as a medicinal chemist at GlaxoSmithKline in 2003 in their cardiovascular medicinal chemistry group.  He spent 11 years doing small molecule lead optimization primarily focusing on cardiovascular disease targets.  In 2014, Lamont joined the Flexible Discovery Unit Medicinal Chemistry Center of Excellence as a Team Leader to support late-stage high priority projects in the DPUs in reaching their drug discovery milestones.  Over his 13+ year career, Lamont has worked on many disease targets including Lp-PLA2, Renin, NOX, TPRC3/C6, BMP1, TRPV4 and RIP2K and contributed to the progression of several molecules to candidate selection.  Outside of leading science, Lamont is passionately involved with community and outreach efforts.  He has been involved with the recruitment of scientists at all levels into the chemistry community.  He leads the GSK chemistry recruitment team for minority conferences and serves as the lead for the African American Alliance employee resource group in the Delaware Valley. He is a leader in GSK’s inclusion and diversity efforts and a member of the R&D Inclusion council.  In 2017, he decided to step away from doing science to lead the US R&D Early Talent Programs and head GSK’s diversity recruitment initiative for the US Pharma R&D business.