Group Members

Joel S. Freundlich, Ph.D., is a Professor of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience and of Medicine at Rutgers University–New Jersey Medical School with membership in the Center for Emerging and Reemerging Pathogens, the Graduate Program in Medicinal Chemistry, and the Rutgers Cancer Institute. Prior to his return to academic research, he spent eight years in the pharmaceutical industry as a medicinal chemist. His undergraduate and master’s degree training were in chemical engineering at Cornell University as a McMullen Dean’s Scholar. He received his doctorate in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the tutelage of 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awardee Richard Schrock.

Link to CV

Link to CDD interview (Collaborative Drug Discovery)

Link to interview at Grosset Symposium

Pankaj Sharma completed his MS (Pharm.) and a PhD in medicinal chemistry in 2017 from the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Hyderabad, India. He developed a silver-catalyzed domino protocol for the synthesis of a new class of spirooxindoles during his doctoral research work. He also worked on the synthesis of oxindole- and benzimidazole-based new chemical entities acting as potential cytotoxic and apoptosis inducing agents. He worked as a postdoctoral research at the Ohio State University, under the guidance of Prof. Karl Werbovetz. The prime focus of his research was to develop the structure-activity relationship for new antileukemic and antileishmanial compounds. He joined as a postdoctoral fellow in the Freundlich lab in January 2022 and is currently exploring the rational development of compounds targeting the menaquinone biosynthetic pathway in M. tuberculosis. He is also learning novel techniques in structure-based drug design and molecular modeling.

Shivangi
Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Shivangi completed her PhD in May 2022 from CSIR- Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, India. Her PhD work focused on the characterization of mycobacterial GTPase and ATPase proteins through biochemical and biophysical analysis, disruption studies by point mutagenesis and identification of potent inhibitors through in silico and in vitro methods. She joined the Freundlich Group in June 2022 and here her primary goal is to study drug accumulation kinetic phenomena in different bacteria. In addition, she is very interested to learn more about bacterial cell death post primary target engagement.
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9lX9XNIAAAAJ&hl=en
Twitter handle: @Shivangi_122

Kishor Mane, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Kishor Mane graduated from CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory Pune in June 2022. His PhD work focused on the transition metal-free and transition metal catalyzed reactions mainly C-H activation of heteroarenes, photoredox catalysis, designing & synthesis of small bioactive scaffolds using reactive intermediates such as aza-oxyallyl cations, donor-acceptor cyclopropanes, EDA complexes, quinone monoimines (QMI), quinone imine ketals (QIKs), para-quinine methides (p-QMs), aryne, and α-oxyalkyl radicals produced from ethers. In October 2022, he joined the Freundlich Group and is primarily involved in the design and synthesis of small molecule antibacterials.

Benjamin J. Rose Ph.D.

Dr. Benjamin J. Rose completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Vermont in 2025 under the tutelage of Dr. Matthias Brewer. At the University of Vermont, he worked on the development of new methodology and the total synthesis of natural products utilizing the reactive vinyl diazonium intermediate. Prior to his work at UVM, he worked for the Penn State College of Medicine in the Organic Synthesis Core developing small molecule drugs for anti-cancer research. Currently, Dr. Rose works on the synthesis and design of small molecules to fight M. tuberculosis with an emphasis on utilizing late-stage functionalization chemistry.

Caitlin V. Hetherington

Dr. Caitlin V. Hetherington earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stony Brook University in 2025 under the supervision of Dr. Benjamin G. Levine. She applied quantum chemistry methods to investigate light-driven processes in nanomaterials and leveraged machine learning approaches to accelerate rare-earth metal separation. Currently, she focuses on the computational and machine learning aspects of drug discovery and infectious disease research.

Timothy Crea

Timothy Crea earned his MSc from Cornell University under the guidance of Dr. George Hess. As an Olin Fellow, Tim’s research focused on finding solutions toward the mutated disfunctional GABA A receptor and its indications in epilepsy. Using Patch Clamp analysis and photolabile GABA, as well as receptor modulators, the kinetics of dysfunctional GABA A receptors were studied to further develop therapeutics. Prior to graduate school, Tim earned his undergraduate degree with High Honors from Rutgers University. Tim at that time was awarded the G.H. Cook scholarship, which allowed him to expand his horizons. While working in industry and conducting academic research on HIV (with Dr. John Taylor), his love for pure research began. After graduate school, Tim worked at Celgene in the development of their immunomodulatory drug platform, IMiDs, namely toward the treatment of multiple myeloma. Tim spent many years as an Applications Chemist for Teledyne Isco, where he helped in product development as well as assisting chemists with various chromatographic applications. Before joining the Freundlich group, Tim worked as synthetic chemist at Chem Service, a Pesticide/Herbicide Analytical standard company. Aside from working in the Freundlich group, Tim continues to tutor both high school and college students in the Sciences. When not diving into Science, Tim loves to spend time outdoors with his Vizsla, training martial arts, cooking delicious meals, and gardening.

Philo Saad

I am an undergraduate student in the Honors College at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, School of Arts and Sciences, pursuing a degree in Cellular Biology and Neuroscience and a career in medicine. I joined the Freundlich Group in 2025 and have developed a strong interest in the biology and chemistry underlying cellular processes and human health. Outside of my academic pursuits, I serve as an EMT with Cedar Grove and Paramus, where I have the opportunity to serve my community and gain valuable experience in patient care. I hope to continue building upon my academic and clinical experiences as I prepare for a career in medicine and develop a deeper understanding of the biological sciences that contribute to human health and disease.