Professor Andrei K. Yudin obtained his PhD degree at the University of Southern California under the direction of Professors G. K. Surya Prakash and George A. Olah. He then took up a post-doctoral position in the laboratory of Professor K. Barry Sharpless at the Scripps Research Institute. In 1998, he started his independent career at the University of Toronto. His research interests are in transition metal catalysis, development of novel synthetic methods, and synthesis of complex heterocycles of biological significance.