Derek Lowe is a chemistry blogger and medicinal chemist working on preclinical drug discovery. Lowe (born in Harrisburg, Arkansas) got his BA from Hendrix College and his PhD in organic chemistry from Duke University, doing his doctoral research studying the organic synthesis of natural products,[1] before spending time in Germany on a Humboldt Fellowship on his post-doc.
Lowe was apparently the first person to blog from inside the drug industry,[2] and appears be one of the first science bloggers.[3] He maintains an online presence, commenting on drug discovery and the pharmaceutical industry in his blog "In the Pipeline".[4] "In the Pipeline" attracts a wide readership, getting approximately 15,000 to 20,000 page views on a typical weekday.[5] He also regularly writes columns about organic and medicinal chemistry, detailing the trends and challenges of drug development, in the Royal Society of Chemistry periodical Chemistry World.[6] He serves on the editorial board of ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters and on the advisory board of Chemical & Engineering News[7]