Rate My Professor Thomas Bannister

Thomas Bannister, Ph.D., serves as Research Professor and Senior Scientific Director in the Department of Molecular Medicine at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, University of Florida. He earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Indiana University in 1991, a Master of Philosophy from Yale University in 1987, a Master of Science from Yale University in 1986, and an A.B. in Chemistry from Wabash College in 1984. Bannister's career trajectory includes positions as Assistant Professor of Chemistry with joint appointment at Scripps Research from 2005 to 2017, faculty in the Chemistry Department at Scripps Florida from 2005 to 2018, and current affiliated faculty roles in the Departments of Chemistry and Molecular Medicine at UF Scripps Biomedical Research. Since 2022, he has been Core Director of Medicinal Chemistry Support for the Midwest Antiviral Drug Discovery (AviDD) Center. He contributes lectures on medicinal chemistry to the graduate course Principles of Drug Discovery (TRBIO 450), offered in alternate years.

Bannister specializes in organic and medicinal chemistry applied to drug discovery, collaborating extensively with experts in neuroscience and cancer biology to advance treatments for unmet medical needs. His research encompasses biased mu opioid receptor agonists that deliver pain relief while minimizing side effects, with seminal findings published in Cell (2017) and featured on the cover of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (2018); NOP receptor agonists targeting PTSD and alcohol addiction relapse; NAD-elevating neuroprotectants for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS; KLF5 inhibitors for colorectal cancer; TBK1 and IKKε dual kinase inhibitors for hormone-refractory prostate cancer; inhibitors of CK1δ, ASK1, and ULK1 kinases for various cancers; and modulators of the HIPPO-YAP pathway. Additional efforts involve high-throughput screening to develop first-in-class chemical probes for cancers, glaucoma, ALS, infectious diseases, addiction, and mood disorders including GPR151 modulators for addiction, depression, and schizophrenia. Bannister's leadership in the field includes serving as Chair of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Medicinal Chemistry Division in 2016, Chair of the ACS MEDI Long Range Planning Committee in 2015, and multiple terms on planning committees from 2009 to 2016. His work supports multiple NIH-funded projects as co-principal investigator or named investigator.