By Sharon McCarthy
Dr. James R. McCarthy was a scientist of worldwide stature who had broad experience in the fields of drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, organic synthesis and fluorine chemistry. He deeply valued the education process, and he was the first in his family to earn a doctorate degree. Jim combined a keen intellect, the ability to recognize and explore important scientific problems, the drive to see projects to their successful completion, and a joy in his work that was noticeable to all.
Jim’s passion for knowledge, learning, and chemistry were markedly present throughout his life. He never considered chemistry ‘work’, but rather a pleasurable endeavor. His whole family was aware and inspired by his deep love of his work. He instilled a sense of academic drive in each of his five children. His family was always amazed that his choice of ‘beach reads’ while on vacation was always chemistry journals.
Jim was born in New York City and spent his early childhood in New Hampshire. His family moved to Phoenix when he was entering middle school. His family valued education, but didn’t have money for college tuition. Jim was keenly aware that living in Arizona was a plus in his life because the state offered nearly free college tuition at the time he was ready to start college. Jim received his B.S. in Chemistry from Arizona State University in 1965 and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Utah in 1969, under the direction of Professor Roland K. Robbins. Jim’s love of chemistry was nurtured by professors who saw his talents. While at ASU, Dr. Robbins, offered the student with the highest grade on the chemistry final the opportunity to do summer chemistry research…Jim was that student.
He had a 41-year career in the pharmaceutical industry with positions at Dow Chemical, Merrell Dow, and Marion Merrell Dow (1968-1993), Neurocrine Biosciences in San Diego (1994-1999), and Eli Lilly and Company (1999-2009). At Lilly he was a Distinguished Research Fellow where he participated in the direction of several clinical trial candidates. Since 2010 he was Chief Operating Officer of Avancier Pharmaceuticals, LLC, Indianapolis. Through this start-up company, he continued to advance the field of fluorine chemistry.
Jim made numerous breakthrough contributions in the field of organofluorine chemistry. He discovered two new organofluorine reactions, three new reagents for the introduction of fluorine into organic molecules, and more than 20 new methods for the synthesis and chemical modification of organofluorine compounds. These discoveries are widely utilized in the drug-design process in industry and academia to incorporate fluorine to improve physical properties, increase potency and improve druggability.
Teaching was an important aspect of Jim’s career. He was Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology at the Purdue School of Science at IUPUI from 1979-1986. He taught several courses, co-directed two thesis M.S. students, and had three joint publications resulting from this collaboration. Upon retirement from Eli Lilly in 2009 Jim rejoined the department as a Research Professor. He continued to publish throughout his career—he had more than 130 peer-reviewed publications and 60 patents. Jim organized and chaired two ACS symposia on Fluorine in Drug Design and presented five invited minicourses/tutorials on fluorinated biologically active molecules.
Jim died unexpectedly in 2016 from metastatic melanoma. Through the generosity of his family and friends, the Dr. James R. McCarthy Memorial Scholarship was created through the Indiana University Foundation to support students at the Purdue School of Science at IUPUI to honor his love of chemistry, education, and pharmaceutical research. This permanent scholarships will be awarded annually to support outstanding undergraduate chemistry students at IUPUI. The first cohort of scholarship recipients was supported for Fall 2020/Spring 2021.