“Productivity, time management, art, theoretical knowledge - that is what anyone going into chemistry and wanting to follow a career should develop.” -Emmanuel
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raduating college at an age younger than most and starting elementary school at three years old isn’t that common. Studying in cities from Port de Paix (Haiti), France and New York, Mr. Michel Emmanuel grew up in a family of educators and professionals who fostered in him an interest in science and education. With several published patents and over twenty-five years of experience in the medicinal chemistry field, Emmanuel doesn’t just teach from the textbook, he brings real world experience to the classroom. As a young boy in Port de Paix, Haiti, Emmanuel spent his mornings full of tears as he watched his older brothers and mother go off to school. To prevent future tantrums, his mother suggested, “Let's take him and sit him in a corner of the room and maybe he can amuse himself with some toys.” At just three, Emmanuel started his schooling and paid more attention to the teacher rather than the toys. As a kid, Emmanuel
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The Man Who Made Your Medicine By Grace O’Malley & Angelika Kyrkos
wanted to be a doctor, but his fear of blood interfered with that. “I decided to apply my love for chemistry, which was the next best thing,” Emmanuel said. After moving to Brooklyn and starting college, Emmanuel discovered chemistry. His passion for chemistry stemmed from the fact that it was more than just a science. “It’s a moving science,” Emmanuel says, “It offers tangible connections to the world that we experience daily. That's what I like about it.” Before finishing his last year of college, Emmanuel was asked by the Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation to work for them. “It was my first and only job,” Emmanuel said, “I worked there for thirty years.” That’s where he had the opportunity to go to graduate
school. The period of ten to fifteen years it takes to research and develop new medicines requires multiple steps and involves many obstacles. One of them is patent publication. This step legally secures the process of making a drug. With a simple Google search, one can find all of the patents Emmanuel contributed to. To many, publishing a patent is a great achievement, but Emmanuel was very humble about it. “I was like: ‘Yeah that's cool’.” When Emmanuel had exhausted his time at the Boehringer Ingelheim lab, he decided to go into teaching. “Been there, done that. I accomplished my goal there... Sometimes you have to do something else, something different,” Emmanuel said
with a smile. The transition to teaching was easy, considering he had always taken new scientists under his wing at the lab. Emmanuel became a high school teacher knowing the impact he can have on students. “It's more interesting to shape new lives than to redirect old lives. That's where you make the difference, in high school,” Emmanuel added. Despite the dread that many students have of walking into chemistry class, Emmanuel implores students to disregard the stereotypes surrounding those who love science. “Everybody thinks chemists are geeks but that's not true... We’re pretty cool and we’re hard working,” he laughs.
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