Carolyn Bertozzi

Chemist and Medical Researcher.

- Peg Lopata

Human bodies are like complex chemical factories that usually work very well. But sometimes, things go wrong. How does that happen? To figure out how chemicals in our bodies work—or, sometimes, how they don’t—one person to turn to is Carolyn Bertozzi. She is a medical researcher and professor at Stanford University in California.

Bertozzi combines her knowledge of biology and chemistry to better understand health and sickness. At the Bertozzi Research Group at Stanford, she works with other scientists and students to study what our bodies’ many chemicals are doing. The components of chemicals are called molecules. According to Bertozzi, “Molecules are where the action takes place.”

WE READ YOU ONCE PLAYED IN A BAND AND CONSIDERED MAJORING IN MUSIC. WHEN DID YOU GET REALLY INTERESTED IN CHEMISTRY?