Mary Kay H. Pflum

Mary Kay H. Pflum, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry

B.A. Chemistry, Carleton College, 1992
Ph.D. Bioorganic Chemistry, Yale University, 1999
NIH Post-doctoral Fellow in Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 2001

Dr. Pflum received a B.A. degree from Carleton College working with Jerry Mohrig in physical organic chemistry. In Ph.D. training at Yale Univeristy with Alanna Schepartz, she worked on several bioorganic projects focusing on phosphoproteins and transcription factors. In an NIH post-doctoral position at Harvard University with Stuart Schreiber, she worked on chemical biology and cell biology projects focusing on histone deacetylase proteins. Dr. Pflum joined the faculty at Wayne State University in 2001 with a research program at the interface of Chemistry and Biology focusing on two cancer-related proteins – kinase and histone deacetylase enzymes. The multi-disciplinary research in her laboratory combined the fields of organic synthesis, biochemistry, enzymology, molecular biology, analytical chemistry, and cell biology.

Positions and honors

  • 1996, Pre-doctoral Fellowship, American Chemical Society, Yale University
  • 1996, Pre-doctoral Fellowship, Lucille E. Dox Fellowship, Yale University
  • 1999, Post-doctoral Fellowship, National Institute of Health, Harvard University
  • 2002, Research Innovation Award, Research Corporation, Wayne State University
  • 2007, Teaching award, College of Liberal Arts and Science, Wayne State University
  • 2008, President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Wayne State University
  • 2008, Scientific Member, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
  • 2010, Career Development Chair, Wayne State University
  • 2012, Co-chair of the Bioorganic Chemistry Gordon Research Conference, Andover, NH
  • 2014, Permanent Member of the NIH SBCB study section, National Institutes of Health
  • 2019, Charles H. Gershenson Distinguished Faculty
  • 2023, A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Endowed Chair in Chemistry, Wayne State University

Research funding

  • National Institutes of Health (R35GM131821, R01GM079529, and R01GM067657)
  • National Science Foundation (CHE-130649)
  • View publications