2026 Events: October 20-22
Catherine L. Drennan, PhD, Professor of Biology and Chemistry; Investigator and Professor, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Learn more about Dr. Drennan’s research, visit Drennan Research and Education Laboratories
Schedule:
- Tuesday, October 20
- 11 AM: Context Session: Journal Article Discussion
- Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Science, Room 045
- Topic to be announced
- 11 AM: Context Session: Journal Article Discussion
- Thursday, October 22
- 11 AM: Technical Lecture
- Title to be announced
- Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Science, Room 060
- Title to be announced
- 12 PM: Lunch: with students
- Severance 105 (STEM Zone)
- 7:30 PM: Public Lecture
- Title to be announced
- Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Science, Room 060
- Reception immediate follows
- 11 AM: Technical Lecture
Details:
Technical Lecture: To be announced
Get to Know Me Lunch
Public Lecture: To be announced
Biography:
Selected Awards:
- National Academy of Sciences, 2023
- American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Fellow, 2021
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member, 2020
- Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award, Protein Society, 2020
- Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow, 2015-2025
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, HHMI Investigator, 2008
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, HHMI Professor, 2006
Helen Murray Free
Helen Murray Free, a 1945 College of Wooster graduate and a pioneering scientist who was inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame in 2000, was honored with the inaugural Helen Murray Free Endowed Lecture, featuring Dr. Mary Lowe Good.
The lecture series was established by Helen’s children and endowed through the Al and Helen Free Foundation. Each year, this endowed fund brings a renowned chemical scientist to campus to interact with chemistry students at a technical level and present an all-college convocation on the contributions of science to the quality of life.
Free, whose research in clinical chemistry not only revolutionized diagnostic testing in the laboratory, but also in the home, developed the “dip-and-read” glucose tests for diabetics. She was awarded seven patents for her clinical diagnostic test inventions, and also helped to develop a product for diagnosing Hepatitis ‘A’ while working for Miles Laboratories. In addition, she provided invaluable leadership in the testing of newborn infants for genetic or metabolic disorders that might lead to mental retardation.
Throughout her career, Free has been an active advocate of science education. From 1987 to 1992, she chaired the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) National Chemistry Week Task Force. In 1980, she was chosen as one of Wooster’s Distinguished Alumni Award winners; in 1992 she received an honorary degree from Wooster; and in 1993 she was elected president of the American Chemical Society.
Free has authored more than 150 professional articles, and co-authored two widely used textbooks in the field. Her accomplishments have been recognized in a number of ways, including the awarding of the ACS Garvan Medal and the Professional Achievement Award in Nuclear Medicine from the American Society for Medical Technology, as well as the establishment of the ACS Helen M. Free Public Outreach Award.