Merritt B. Andrus

Merritt B. Andrus, PhD was born in Glendale California in 1961 and was raised in near-by Burbank. After graduating there from John Burroughs HS, he attended Brigham Young University majoring in chemistry. Merritt then served in the Venezuela Caracas Mission from 1980 to 1982. He finished a BS degree in chemistry from BYU in 1986. He performed organic research with Prof. Jerald S. Bradshaw during this time. Merritt was also active in the BYU music department performing and traveling with the Chamber Orchestra, the jazz group Synthesis, and the performing group The Young Ambassadors. Merritt performed graduate work at the University of Utah earning a PhD degree in organic chemistry in 1991. He developed new research on asymmetric allylstannane additions under the direction of Prof. Gary E. Keck. Merritt was then a postdoctoral associate of Prof. Stuart L. Schreiber at Harvard, Department of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Cambridge, MS. During this time, he earned a National Institutes of Health fellowship working in the area of immunosuppressant drug design. In 1993 Dr. Andrus accepted an assistant professor position in the department of chemistry at Purdue U., West Lafayette, IN. During this time Dr. Andrus received major grants from the NIH (RO1), NSF (Career Award), American Chemical Society, and Proctor & Gamble (University Exploratory Research Award). In 1997 Dr. Andrus and his research group moved to Brigham Young U. In 2000 he was promoted to associate professor and in 2004 was promoted to full professor. Major grants earned in this time period include the NIH, NSF, Research Corporation, ACS, and the American Cancer Society. Prof. Andrus remains active in the areas of asymmetric methodology, natural product total synthesis, and drug development. Merritt and wife, Diane have 5 children