His graduate work was carried out under the direction of Alfred Hassner and dealt with the synthesis of steroidal heterocycles.
He also served as the dean of the college of chemistry from 1999 until 2005, and was Chief Scientist of the California Institute for Qualitative Biosciences (QB3) from 2005 until 2008.
Heathcock is known for tackling the chemical synthesis of complex, polycyclic natural products, often possessing unusual biological activity including Daphniphyllum alkaloids, altohyrtin, zaragozic acid, spongistatins, and many others.
Heathcock is the author of several hundred research papers [1] and a coauthor of the popular college textbook Introduction to Organic Chemistry.
Cope Scholar (1990); Prelog Medal, ETH (1991); American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1991); National Academy of Sciences (1995); Centenary Medal, Royal Society of Chemistry (1996); H. C. Brown Award (ACS) (2002); Paul Gassman Award for Distinguished Service (ACS) (2004).