UCLA

About

Heather D. Maynard is the Dr. Myung Ki Hong Professor in Polymer Science at UCLA. Maynard is a worldwide leader in the area of protein-polymer conjugates, which are important therapeutics for a variety of diseases. She develops new synthetic methods to make the materials, invents new polymers to improve properties such as stability, and demonstrates preclinical efficacy of her conjugates with an eye towards translation for human health. Maynard also works in the area of smart materials for precision medicine: materials that respond to disease states in the body. Maynard’s research and teaching have been recognized by numerous awards including the American Chemical Society Arthur Cope Scholar Award, Bioconjugate Chemistry Lectureship Award, Fulbright Specialist Award, Hanson-Dow Award for Excellence in Teaching and the UCLA Student Development Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award. Maynard is both an American Chemical Society Polymer Chemistry and Polymer Materials: Science and Engineering Fellow. She is also an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), Leverhulme, Kavli Frontiers, and Royal Society of Chemistry Fellow and was a member of the United States Defense Science Study Group from 2016-2017.  At UCLA Maynard serves as the Director of the National Institutes of Health funded Chemistry and Biology Interface Training Program, Co-Director of the National Science Foundation funded BioPACIFIC MIP, and as Associate Director of the California NanoSystems Institute.  Maynard is also an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.  Maynard received her PhD from the California Institute of Technology and was an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral fellow at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH).