Biographical Sketch:

Bereket Mochona, Ph.D., an associate professor of chemistry received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He pursued MS/Ph.D. studies in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry at Florida A&M University under direction of Professors A.  P. Ollapally and K. K. Redda in anticancer and anti-inflammatory agents discovery & development. Dr. Mochona started his independent career when he joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry as Visiting Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry and later as Assistant Professor in 2012.  Dr. Mochona's research program primarily focuses on developing and synergistically combining diverse sets of approaches to discover and develop small molecules as new therapeutic leads that address significant unmet medical needs such as drugs for Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer (CRPC) and Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). Researchers in the lab gain broad training spanning across organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, biochemistry and pharmacology. In conjunction with basic research, Dr. Mochona has been involved in NCI funded Florida-California Cancer Research, Education & Engagement (CaRE2) program as FAMU Education & Research Core (REC) leader. He has also served as a coordinator for education core in National Cancer Institute funded FAMU-UF Minority Cancer Research Training (MiCaRT) program and Cancer Research Training Opportunities for Outstanding Leaders (ReTOOL) program. Dr. Mochona has  also served as research mentor to both undergraduate and graduate students, in the areas of Organic & Medicinal Chemistry.