Zhong-Yin Zhang

Zhong-Yin Zhang graduated from Nankai University in 1984 with a B.S. in Chemistry. He pursued his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Purdue University under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Van Etten, where he carried out the first mechanistic study on a protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) and graduated in 1990. After a brief stint at Upjohn, he completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan from 1991-1994, where he continued his work on the PTPs in the laboratory of Dr. Jack Dixon. Zhong-Yin established his own laboratory in 1994 at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he rose to the rank of Professor in 2002. From 2005-2015, Zhang was the Robert A. Harris Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Indiana University School of Medicine. In 2016, Zhang moved back to Purdue as Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, Robert C. and Charlotte P. Anderson Chair in Pharmacology, and Head of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. He also serves as the Director of the Institute for Drug Discovery at Purdue University. His research spans the disciplines of chemistry and biology with an emphasis on PTP structure and function, signaling mechanism, and development of PTP inhibitors as novel therapeutics.

Honors and Awards

• 2018                       Inducted into Innovators Hall of Fame, Purdue University

• 2017                       Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

• 1999-2003            Irma T. Hirschl Career Scientist Award.

• 1997-2000            Sinsheimer Scholar.