Wes Lee is a postdoctoral fellow at NCATS/NIH, where he has been part of the Medicinal Chemistry team within the Therapeutic Development Branch since September 2021. In addition to synthesizing analogs, he collaborates closely with the DMPK group to identify major metabolites during the lead optimization phase of antimalarial drug development. He has also designed and synthesized an analog aimed at improving pharmacokinetic (PK) properties. Moreover, Wes is focused on modeling work, utilizing AlphaFold-predicted enzyme structures to analyze the binding interactions between lead compounds and their targets.Wes earned his PhD in chemistry from the University of Maryland, where his research centered on mechanistic studies and the development of multicomponent iron-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions, integrating both computational quantum mechanics and experimental organic synthesis techniques.