Meet The Speaker
About
Mark Mellinger
I was born and raised in Philadelphia and the northern suburbs. I graduated from Souderton High School in 1983 where I played baseball with former Phillie, Jamie Moyer. I graduated from Ursinus College in 1987 with a BS degree in chemistry. I graduated from Temple University in 1989 with an MS degree in organic chemistry. My research advisor at Temple was Professor Steve Washburne where I researched palladium catalyzed coupling reactions of aryl halides with silyl acetylenes (Heck type reactions). I joined GSK in May 1989 and have worked at GSK for over 35 years. I began my career as a process chemist in Drug Development where I developed a drug called Hycamtin, approved by the FDA in 1996 for the treatment of ovarian cancer. In total, I have helped discover/develop four drugs on the market: Hycamtin IV, Oral Hycamtin, BLENREP, and Gepotidacin. After 13 years as a process chemist in Chemical Development, I transferred to Drug Discovery in 2002 where I became a chiral chromatographer for the past 22 years. I am very passionate about my job.
When I am not doing chiral chromatography, I very much enjoy spending time with my lovely wife, Amy, and three beautiful children, Kenna, 25, Kiera, 23, and Ethan, 20. I enjoy relaxing at the beach with my family. I am a HUGE baseball fan and I watch EVERY Phillies game without fail. I have been a Phillies’ season ticket holder for over 30 years. I also enjoy listening to, and singing, a wide range of music. I collect Morgan silver dollars. I enjoy going deep-sea fishing for striped bass in the early spring and late fall. I have a very strong faith in God. As an eternal optimist, I always see the glass as half full.