Raymond C. Stevens (born 1963) is an American chemist and structural biologist, Founder, CEO and Board Member of Structure Therapeutics;[2] Founding Director of the iHuman Institute at ShanghaiTech University; Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, and Founding Director of the Bridge Institute at the University of Southern California; Board Member, Danaher Corporation.
He spent two summers working as an intern at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island with Professor Ricci, and Drs.
Thomas Koetzle and Dick McMullan, where he first learned how to determine the molecular structure of compounds by X-ray and neutron diffraction.
While there he also met a University of Southern California research team led by Dr. Robert Bau; after he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry at USM, he entered the University of Southern California in pursuit of a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Chemistry working with Professor Robert Bau and Nobel Laureate Professor, George Olah.
After obtaining his Ph.D., Stevens accepted a postdoctoral position in 1988 in the lab of Nobel Laureate William N. Lipscomb, Jr. in the chemistry department at Harvard University where he focused on the large allosteric enzyme aspartate carbamoyltransferase.
A seminal collaboration for Stevens was with Professor Peter G. Schultz where they jointly published a series of Science and Nature papers describing the immunological evolution of antibodies through careful structural studies.
After the initial experience with structure based drug discovery from 1992 to 1997 with Gilead and Tamiflu, Stevens focused on understanding the basic mechanism of how Botox (botulinum toxin) works, and on ways to use this scaffold for next generation protein therapeutics.
[74][75][76] In 2008, Stevens started Receptos that developed an S1P1 agonist for multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease, now on the market called Zeposia and sold by BMS.
[93] Established by Stevens to honor USM Professor Emeritus John Ricci and his innovative educational program at Brookhaven National Laboratory, these summer fellowships offer a unique opportunity for USM undergraduates to pursue research at The University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, one of the oldest private research universities.
[94] In 2018, Stevens and his wife supported the building of the John S. Ricci Lecture Hall in honor of his undergraduate teacher and mentor.