Paul J. Hergenrother was born in Akron, OH in 1972. He received a BS in Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame in 1994, and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999, where he worked under the direction of Professor Stephen F. Martin on the elucidation of the catalytic mechanism of phospholipase C and the total synthesis of erythromycin B. After an American Cancer Society postdoctoral stint at Harvard University with Professor Stuart L. Schreiber, Paul joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2001.

He has been the recipient of the NSF-CAREER Award, the Beckman Young Investigator Award, the Research Innovation Award from the Research Corporation, and he is a fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. His laboratory is actively investigating the use of small molecules to define novel targets for the treatment of cancer, neurodegeneration, and drug-resistant bacteria.