Huw M. L. Davies was born in Aberystwyth, Wales, UK. He received his B. Sc. degree from University College Cardiff, Wales and his Ph. D degree from the University of East Anglia. After a post-doctoral position at Princeton University, he joined the faculty at Wake Forest University. After being promoted to full professor he moved to the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York where he held the positions of UB Distinguished Professor and Larkin Professor of Organic Chemistry. In 2008 he moved to Emory University as the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Organic Chemistry. Degrees PhD, Chemistry, University of East Anglia, UK, 1980 BSc, (Hon.) Class I, Chemistry, University College Cardiff, UK, 1977 Awards and Honors American Chemical Society Organic Division Chair (2005) Program Chair, Heterocycles Gordon Research Conference (2005) Member of the Editorial Board, Organic Syntheses (2008-present) Editorial Advisory Board, Chemical Society Reviews (2005-present) American Chemical Society Cope Scholar Award (2005) Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2007) Fellow of the American Chemical Society (2009) Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2013) eEROS Reagent of the Year Award (2013) Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2015)

Research area

Professor Davies’ research emphasizes the development of new enantioselective synthetic methods and their applications in total synthesis and drug discovery. His program covers design of chiral catalysts, carbenoid chemistry, development of new synthetic methodology, total synthesis of biologically active natural products, and development of chiral therapeutic agents. Many research groups have used his chiral dirhodium catalysts and several of them are commercially available. The impact of his carbenoid chemistry was recently recognized as he was chosen to be the recipient of the 2013 eEROS Reagent of the Year Award. A major current theme of his program is catalytic asymmetric C–H functionalization by means of rhodium-carbenoid induced C–H insertion. He is currently the Director of the NSF Phase II Center for Selective C-H Functionalization, which brings together 23 faculty members from 15 universities. Professor Davies is actively involved in the chemical community, having served as the Executive Officer of the 2003 National Organic Symposium, the 2005 Program Chair of the Gordon Conference on Heterocyclic Compounds, the 2005 Chair of the Organic Division of the American Chemical Society, and Co-Organizer of the ACS Organic Division yearly Assistant Professor Symposium at the Fall ACS meeting since 2006. Recent awards include the American Chemical Society Cope Scholar Award (2005), Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2007), Fellow of the American Chemical Society (2009), and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2012).