American University, Washington, D.C., October 1997 to December 1998
Graduate certificate in Organizational Change-Leadership

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1983 to 1987
Major: Organic Chemistry   Adviser: Professor Ernest L. Eliel
PhD, May 1987
Dissertation: "Stereoselective Syntheses Based on Chiral 1,3-Oxathianes: Synthesis of Mevalolactone and Citramalic Acid and Investigation of the Mechanism of Diastereoselection"

Institut de Chemie Organique, de Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, March to September 1986
Off-Campus Graduate Fellow,

North Carolina State University, 1979-1983
Major: Chemistry   Minor: Polymer/Textile Chemistry
BS, Summa Cum Laude with Honors, May 1983

Drug design

Enzyme inhibitor design

Protein kinases

After obtaining a BS in chemistry at North Carolina State University in 1983, Frye joined the laboratory of Professor Ernest Eliel at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Frye's research at UNC focused on asymmetric synthesis and included an off-campus research fellowship in Lausanne, Switzerland, to investigate mechanisms of stereoselective organometallic reactions via NMR kinetics.

Upon completing his PhD in 1987, Frye began his professional career as a medicinal chemist at the newly initiated US research site for Glaxo, located at that time in temporary facilities in Venable Hall on the UNC campus. He subsequently led the project that resulted in Avodart, GlaxoSmithKline’s dual 5a-reductase inhibitor for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. The drug is currently under investigation for the prevention of prostate cancer.

Shortly after Glaxo merged with Wellcome in 1995, Frye established a new chemistry department in the Research Triangle Park based upon kinase target class science and GSK’s kinase inhibitors. Tykerb (a dual erbB2/EGFR inhibitor approved for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer) and Pazopanib (in Phase III trials for renal carcinoma) were discovered within this department. In 1999 he began a secondment at GW’s Stevenage site in the United Kingdom leading a research unit in medicinal chemistry. Following the merger with GSK in the spring of 2000, he was selected to lead GSK’s High Throughput Chemistry Group that evolved into Discovery Medicinal Chemistry (DMC).

Over the seven years Frye led DMC, the group grew to more than 200 chemists and developed global target-class chemical science and a compound collection strategy that enhanced both the productivity and quality of GSK’s hit and lead generation across all therapeutic areas. Stephen joined the UNC School of Pharmacy in October 2007 to create a new Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery in cooperation with the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the School of Medicine, and the Department of Chemistry.