Enrico Di Cera, M.D., has been named the Roy and Diana Vagelos Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics.
The professorship was established in 2002 by P. Roy Vagelos, M.D., and his wife, Diana, in honor of William H. Danforth, M.D., chancellor emeritus, and his wife, Elizabeth. Di Cera is the second holder of this professorship, succeeding Gabriel Waksman, Ph.D.
“I am delighted that we can honor Enrico Di Cera’s fundamental contributions to enzyme mechanism and allosteric activation by naming him the Vagelos Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics,” said Thomas Ellenberger, D.V.M., Ph.D., the Raymond H. Wittcoff Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. “His research continues the tradition of physical biochemistry and mechanistic studies that has long been a hallmark of this department and characterizes Roy Vagelos’ own research program.”
Di Cera, also a professor of medicine, joined the medical school faculty in 1990 after postdoctoral work at the University of Colorado with famous thermodynamicists Stanley Gill and Jeffries Wyman. There he was part of a team that produced important advances in the allosteric theory of large macromolecular assemblies and systems.
His research focuses on thrombin, an enzyme vital to blood clotting, and related serine proteases. He is working to better understand how these proteins perform their functions and how their activity is regulated. Di Cera has received several awards, including one from the American Heart Association and the Amgen-Dompé Biotec Award.
Di Cera earned a medical degree from the Catholic University School of Medicine in Rome. He is married to Maria Gurrieri, M.D., instructor of clinical medicine and a staff physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
P. Roy Vagelos headed the Department of Biological Chemistry, now called the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, from 1966-1975. Among his many accomplishments at the University was the founding of the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences. This multidisciplinary doctoral program in the biological sciences spans the Danforth and Medical campuses and has been a model for other universities.
Prior to heading the department, Vagelos spent 10 years conducting research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. His work there revealed how cells synthesize fatty substances called lipids and contributed to the development of cholesterol-lowering drugs.
In 1975, Vagelos joined Merck Research Laboratories and served as president until 1985, when he became chair and chief executive officer. Under his watch, the company made unprecedented gains in drug discoveries and became the leader in the industry.
He led Merck in the pioneering development of statin drugs before retiring in 1994.
Vagelos is chair of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Theravance, two biotech companies, and serves in an advisory capacity to several major research universities.