Bruce D. Hammock, ESA Fellow (2010)

[img_assist|nid=20723|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=100|height=143]Dr. Bruce D. Hammock, distinguished professor at the University of California, Davis (UCD) with a joint appointment in entomology & nematology and the UCD Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC), was elected as Fellow in 2010. He is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in discovering ways of disrupting insect developmental biology, which have led to the creation of greener pesticides and is working at an enzymatic level to combat problems of insecticide resistance.

Hammock grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in entomology, with a minor in zoology and chemistry from Louisiana State University (LSU) in 1969, he earned his Ph.D. in 1973 in entomology and toxicology at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). In 1973, as part of his service in the U.S. Army Reserve (1967–1977), he acquired a medical science certificate while a public health medical officer in the U.S. Army Academy of Health Science in San Antonio, Texas. He added two postdoctoral fellowships, one in 1973 at UCB in entomology and toxicology and a second in 1974 in biochemistry with the Rockefeller Foundation at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. In 1975, he returned to the UC system at Riverside (UCR) as an assistant professor of entomology. He moved to UCD in 1980 as associate professor of entomology and toxicology, becoming a full professor in 1983, and appointed as distinguished professor in 2003. He was a founding member of the UCD CCC in 1999.  In 2002, he became director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Training Program in Biomolecular Technology at UCD.  He also directs the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Research Program at UCD.

Hammock directs a diverse laboratory of over 40 scientists and students working on developing and applying biochemically-based technologies to promote environmental and human health. His lab is involved in understanding the molecular mechanisms of insecticide resistance by identifying and characterizing how insects detoxify pesticides such as pyrethroids. He has authored or co-authored more than 1000 peer-reviewed publications. His teaching interests include the mechanism of action of toxins. Hammock is a popular lecturer and invitations include the Vascular Biology Lecturer in honor of Judah Folkman at Harvard University in 2012; Broom Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry in 2012; Riker Memorial Lecturer in Physiology and Pharmacology in 2012; and Williams E.H. Lands Lecturer at University of Michigan in 2013.

The list of Hammock's awards begins as early as his undergraduate days, and includes the 1995 Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Award in Agriculture; the 1998 ESA Recognition Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology; election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1999; the 2000 UCD Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the University; and the 2014 Bernard B. Brodie Award in Drug Metabolism. He was also elected to the National Academy of Inventors in 2015.

Hammock enjoys the outdoors and teaches white water kayaking through the UCD Outdoor Adventures program.

(Updated, November 2015)