F. G. West
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
B.Sc., University of Arizona
Professor West was born and raised in rural Arizona, and received his undergraduate training (Chemistry, with Honors and summa cum laude) at the University of Arizona in Tucson. While there, he performed research with Victor Hruby on conformationally restricted analogues of the peptide hormone oxytocin, and developed one of the first HPLC-based methods for amino acid analysis of peptide hydrolysates. He then moved to Madison, Wisconsin where he was an NSF Predoctoral Fellow at the University of Wisconsin in the labs of Professor Edwin Vedejs. His doctoral research concerned the generation of nonstabilized azomethine ylides using desilylation methods and the application of this method to the synthesis of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. He spent two years at Columbia University as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor Gilbert Stork, working on radical cyclization-based approaches to the cardenolides.
Professor West began his independent career at the University of Utah in 1988. Initially, his program focused on the use of pyran-4-one photochemistry for the rapid assembly of complex polycyclic skeletons, and the Stevens rearrangement of metallocarbene-derived ylides. Subsequent areas of interest have included the Nazarov cyclization, carbohydrate chemistry, hexose transporter proteins, cancer imaging, and antiviral therapeutics. (See the research description for a more detailed discussion of current research interests.) In 2002, Professor West moved to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where he is currently Professor of Chemistry and Adjunct Professor of Oncology. He has previously held various leadership roles, including Associate Chair (Research) and Interim Chair of the Department of Chemistry, Co-Director of the Cancer Institute of Northern Alberta, and Vice Dean of Science and Interim Dean of the Faculty of Science.
Awards and Honours
2021-2026 Allard Research Chair in Oncology
2020 Bernard Belleau Award, Canadian Society for Chemistry
2016 Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
2015-2016 McCalla Professor
2015 Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring, University of Alberta
2012-2013 Teacher of the Year Award, University of Alberta Chemistry Students’ Association
2011 Killam Annual Professor, University of Alberta
2011 Alfred Bader Award, Canadian Society for Chemistry
2010 Faculty of Science Award for Excellent Teaching, University of Alberta
2005-2006 Chemistry Students’ Association Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Alberta
2004-2005 Chemistry Students’ Association Award for Teaching Excellence, University of Alberta
1998-1999 University Professor, University of Utah
1994-1995 American Cyanamid Faculty Award
1993-1994 Eli Lilly Grantee
1992 Robert W. Parry Teaching Award, Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
1991-1994 American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Research Award
1990 Chemistry SAC Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Utah
1986-1988 National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship, Columbia University
1981-1984 National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison
1980-1981 Samuel M. McElvain Distinguished Teaching/Research Assistantship, University of Wisconsin
Contact Information
Professor Frederick. G. West
Department of Chemistry
University of Alberta
11227 Sasketchewan Drive
Edmonton, AB T6G 2G2
Canada
Office: W5-70D, Gunning/Lemieux Chemistry Centre
Phone: (780) 492-8187
Fax: (780) 492-8231
E-mail: fwest@ualberta.ca