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David Díaz Díaz was born in 1974 in Tenerife, Canary Islands, in Spain. He studied there and received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of La Laguna under the supervision of Prof. Víctor Martín. His doctoral thesis focused on the synthesis of natural products and the development of new synthetic methodologies using transition metal complexes. In 2002, he joined the group of Prof. M. G. Finn as postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute in California (US), where he also worked in close collaboration with Nobel Laureate Prof. Barry Sharpless. During this period, he specialized on the chemistry of amidines, bioconjugation, click chemistry, functional polymers and soft materials. Since 2006, he has held various positions in academia and industry, including a “Ramón y Cajal” Fellow and Assistant Professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain), and Sr. Chemist at the American Multinational Chemical Company, Dow Chemical, in Switzerland. In 2010, he became simultaneously a Tenured Scientist at the Spanish National Research Council and an Alexander von Humboldt Experienced Researcher at the University of Regensburg in Germany obtaining a dual affiliation. In 2013, he was awarded with the prestigious Heisenberg Professorship from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and was appointed as Associate Professor at the University of Regensburg. Prof. Díaz is the first Spanish Scientist to be awarded with the Heisenberg Professorship in Germany. Among several international honors and awards, he has received the Young Investigator Award from the Polymer Network Group in Japan. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Gels and Full Editorial Board Member of ScienceOpen. In 2017, he received Honorary Adjunct Professorship from the University of Jiangsu promoted by the Chinese Advanced Materials Society; Honorary Membership of the Argentine Organic Chemistry Association; Accreditation as University Professor by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain; and the status of Permanent Member (venia legendi) of the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy at the University of Regensburg in Germany. He has about 170 scientific publications and his main research interest focused on the development of functional soft materials for biomedical, catalytic, coating and energy applications. |
