Rob Batey was born and raised in an industrial district of England, known as "The Black Country". He graduated from Oxford University with a B. A. degree in 1988, and then moved to the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London. There he worked with Prof. Willie B. Motherwell, receiving a Ph. D. degree in 1992 on the synthetic applications of free-radical rearrangements. As a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania with Prof. Jeff D. Winkler, he worked on approaches toward the synthesis of the anticancer drug taxol. Following a medicinal chemistry position at the Upjohn Company in Michigan, he joined the faculty at the University of Toronto in 1994. He is currently a Full Professor in the Department of Chemistry, and is a scientist at the McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine in Toronto.

His research interests are in the area of organic synthesis and its application to biology and medicine. His research program encompasses the development of new organic reactions, catalysis, organoboron chemistry, the synthesis of alkaloid natural products and other heterocycles, and their application in probing cellular processes and as anticancer agents. Dr. Batey has been the recipient of several awards including the Merck-Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research Award (2006), a Merck Academic Development Program Award (2005), a Premier's Research Excellence Award (2000), the Bio-Mega/Boehringer Ingelheim Young Investigator Award for Organic Chemistry (1998) and the Canadian Society of Chemistry / Astra Pharma Award (1997).

Outside of the University and scribbling chemical structures, he mostly enjoys spending time with his family, particularly "dancing" with his young children to songs from the Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Orbital, Pavement, Massive Attack, Public Enemy, Renegade Soundwave and others. He also suffers the trials of England's football (soccer) team, enjoys eclectic movies and music, and, like many organic chemists has some culinary pretensions. His favourite cultural figures are the grand inquisitors "Cardinal Ximinez, Biggles and Fang".

To find out more about his research interests, please visit the Batey Group website:

The Batey Group