One of Simon Hall’s headline events for the year, the Sixth Annual Watanabe Symposium in Chemical Biology hosted by IU Bloomington’s Department of Chemistry, is set for Saturday, Oct. 10, from 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. in Chemistry 122.

The symposium honors the late August “Gus” Watanabe, who led research and development at Eli Lilly and Company for nearly a decade and pioneered the study of the cellular mechanics of the heart. In 1994, Watanabe became president of Lilly Research Laboratories and helped launch 11 new and pivotal pharmaceutical products.

Before joining Lilly, Watanabe served nearly 20 years as a full-time faculty member of the Department of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. In 1978, he became the youngest professor of medicine at the university, and from 1983 to 1990, chaired the Department of Medicine. He died in 2009.

A schedule of events and featured speakers is available here.