Duke Chem Alumna Named ACS Fellow

Dr. Sheila Dewitt, G'86, is a pioneering chemist, executive, and entrepreneur with more than 35 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotech companies

A researcher with dark hair and brown rimmed glasses stands outdoors in a fuchsia blazer and white collared shirt

Congratulations to Dr. Sheila Dewitt, a 2026 Fellow of The American Chemical Society. ACS fellows are members who have made outstanding achievements in and contributions to science, the chemistry profession, and the society. Fellows will be celebrated during the ACS Fall 2026 meeting in Chicago.

Dr. Dewitt completed her PhD work in 1986 with Professor Daniel Sternbach. While at Duke, she developed new synthetic routes and insights into constructing substituted cyclopentadienes and tricyclo 5.2.1.0('1,5) dec-8-ene ring systems. She is internationally recognized for pioneering three fields: combinatorial chemistry, in which her landmark 1993 PNAS publication is routinely cited among the papers that founded the field; chemistry-on-a-chip and microreactor technology at Orchid Biosciences; and Deuterium-Enabled Chiral Switching (DECS), which she invented to enable for the first time the pharmacological characterization of individual enantiomers from interconverting racemates. Dr. Dewitt has received numerous awards in recognition of her innovation, including three American Chemical Society honors in 2025: the Gertrude Elion Medicinal Chemistry Award, the Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success, and induction into the Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame. She has authored >60 publications and abstracts, created and delivered >20 short courses or symposia, and is a named inventor on >180 patents and/or patent applications. 

Since 2010, Dr. DeWitt has cofounded three deuterated drug companies and currently serves as Chair, President & CEO of DeuteRx, LLC, and Board Member of Enveric Biosciences. She has founded and/or led the start-up or turnaround of 9 biotechnology companies or business units. 

Congratulations to Dr. Dewitt on this prestigious recognition of her dedication to science!