William C. K. Pomerantz is the Merck Professor of Chemistry and Distinguished University Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He joined the faculty in 2012 as an Assistant Professor, advanced to Associate Professor in 2018, and was promoted to full Professor in 2023. Affiliated with the Department of Medicinal Chemistry in the College of Pharmacy and the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics Epigenetics Consortium, Pomerantz earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Ithaca College in 2002. He held a Fulbright Fellowship at ETH Zürich in 2002-2003, received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008 under Professors Sam Gellman and Nick Abbott, and completed an NIH National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan with Professor Anna Mapp from 2008 to 2012.

Pomerantz's research specializes in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry to modulate transcription factor function via disruption of protein-protein interactions. Innovations from his laboratory include protein-observed ¹⁹F NMR (PrOF NMR) for fragment-based drug discovery, epigenetic inhibitors of BET and non-BET bromodomains, fluorinated molecules for ¹⁹F MRI, and sustainable organofluorine chemistry addressing PFAS persistence. He has authored influential publications such as "Protein-observed fluorine NMR: a bioorthogonal approach for small molecule discovery" (Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2016), "Protein-observed ¹⁹F-NMR for fragment screening, affinity quantification and druggability assessment" (Nature Protocols, 2016), and "A rationally designed aldolase foldamer" (Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2009). His contributions have earned awards including the NSF CAREER Award (2014), Kimmel Scholar Award (2015), Cottrell Scholar Award and ICBS Rising Star in Chemical Biology (2016), McKnight Land-Grant Professorship (2016-2018) and Presidential Fellowship (2018-2021), Guillermo E. Borja Career Development Award (2018), NIH MIRA (2021), George W. Taylor Distinguished Teaching Award (2022), Horace T. Morse Award for Undergraduate Education, and University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment Fellowship (2024). Pomerantz co-directs the NIH T32 Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Grant, serves as Topic Editor for ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, co-chairs the International Chemical Biology Society Global Council, is a standing member of the NIH Chemical Biology and Probes study section, and acts as councilor for the Minnesota ACS Chapter.

Professional Email: wpomer@umn.edu