Lamont Terrell graduated salutatorian from Texas Southern University as a Fredrick Douglas honor scholar earning a B.S degree in chemistry in 1995. He earned his Ph.D. in 2001 in organic chemistry from Michigan State. His graduate studies consisted of the total synthesis of natural products and the development of catalytic tin hydride reactions. He continued his synthetic training with a two-year postdoctoral stint at Stanford University focusing on the development of a catalytic dinuclear zinc asymmetric Mannich reaction. He began his career in drug discovery as a medicinal chemist at GlaxoSmithKline in 2003. He spent 14 years doing small molecule lead optimization primarily focusing on cardiovascular and oncology disease targets.
Outside of leading science, Lamont is passionately involved with community and outreach efforts. He led the GSK chemistry recruitment team for minority conferences and served as the lead for the African American Alliance employee resource group. This passion led to a career pivot and eventually to his role as the Inclusion and Diversity Lead for Pharma R&D. He is responsible for developing and implementing the Inclusion & Diversity strategy for the global business.
Outside of leading science, Lamont is passionately involved with community and outreach efforts. He led the GSK chemistry recruitment team for minority conferences and served as the lead for the African American Alliance employee resource group. This passion led to a career pivot and eventually to his role as the Inclusion and Diversity Lead for Pharma R&D. He is responsible for developing and implementing the Inclusion & Diversity strategy for the global business.