Magid Abou-Gharbia is a Laura H. Carnell of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Temple University’s School of Pharmacy, he joined Temple University in 2008 following his 26-year tenure as a medicinal chemistry researcher and leader in the pharmaceutical industry, where he rose through the ranks to ultimately become senior vice president for Chemical and Screening Sciences at Wyeth Research (now part of Pfizer). He led teams that delivered numerous new chemical entities into clinical evaluation and identified innovative agents benefiting millions of patients worldwide.
In 2008, Dr. Abou-Gharbia transitioned to academia, joining the Temple University School of Pharmacy where he founded the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research, a medicinal chemistry-centric academic drug discovery organization whose mission is to discover novel drugs for unmet medical needs, provide guidance to academic researchers, and train new generations of drug discovery scientists. Under his leadership, the Moulder Center identified novel drug candidates for the treatments for cocaine and alcohol addiction, metabolic disorders, cancer, and lysosomal storage diseases, which led to the formation of four startup biotech companies based on licensing of the center's intellectual property to external companies.
Dr. Abou-Gharbia has held a number of leadership positions since joining Temple. He served as School of Pharmacy’s associate dean for research (2008-2019) and as the director of the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research (2008-2020). In recognition of his contributions and successes he was named a Laura H. Carnell Professor in 2013 and received a Temple University Outstanding Service Award in 2022.
Dr. Abou-Gharbia's research has resulted in over 130 publications in peer reviewed journals. He has co-authored five book chapters and delivered over 235 presentations as an invited lecturer at scientific conferences and academic institutions worldwide. He holds over 125 issued U.S. patents and over 350 issued world patents. He has received numerous awards in recognition for his research contributions, including two American Chemical Society (ACS) "Heroes of Chemistry" awards, a Proctor Medal, a Chemical Pioneer Award, Pennsylvania Bio and Educator of the Year awards, and a Grand Hamdan Award for Excellence in Biomedical Sciences and Drug Discovery. He was also inducted into the New Jersey Inventors and the ACS Medicinal Chemistry halls of fame. He is a fellow of both the ACS and the Royal Society of Chemistry, holds adjunct professorship positions at various academic institutions in the U.S. and abroad, and is on the board of several scientific and professional organizations.