Spring 2026 Emergent Leader Award Symposium

Monday, March 23, 2026 |2:00 PM – 5:50 PM ET

Emergent Leader Award Symposium

GEORGIA WORLD CONGRESS CENTER^| B5 – EXHIBIT HALL CHEMPOD 1

WCC Chair: Indu Kheterpal Organizer: Anna Sromek WCC Program Chair: Danniebelle Haase Presiders: Aran Hubbell and Kimberly Bliss-Roche

Alana Duke

Hailey Hendricks

Elizabeth Ryutov

Vasilisa Krivovicheva

Hannah Boesger

Sarah Mear

Megan Jurek

Katie Kuo

Christine Dunn

Introductory Remarks

Decarboxylative oxygenation via homolysis of carboxylic acid O-H bonds enabled by proton-coupled electron transfer reactions with photoexcited nitroarenes

Alana Duke, New York University

Latent ligand-centered radicals enable photoinduced nickel: CF3 cleavage

Hailey Hendricks, Princeton University

Selective C:H functionalization of alkenes via thianthrenation

Elizabeth Ryutov, University of Wisconsin-Madison

First cationic vanadium N-heterocyclic carbene alkylidenes and their performance in carbon isotope exchange

Vasilisa Krivovicheva, Florida International University

A multifunctional protein balances redox-mediated toxicity and catalysis in natural product biosynthesis

Hannah Boesger, University of Michigan

IntermissionEnablement and synthesis of a colon-targeted pan-sik inhibitor clinical candidate

Sarah Mear, Pfizer, Inc.

Targeting the alpha9alpha10 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor for neuropathic pain

Megan Jurek, University of Illinois-Chicago

Predicting TNFα dynamics for the discovery and development of novel therapeutics

Katie Kuo, Georgia Institute of Technology

Using high-throughput virtual screening to identify selective Helicobacter pylori antimicrobials by targeting respiratory Complex I

Christine Dunn, St. Jude Research Hospital Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Closing Remarks

For more information on the award, click here. If you have questions, please send an email to WCC@acs.org.