Joan B. Broderick

Class of 2025-26

Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
College of Letters and Sciences
Montana State University

Joan Broderick, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, is recognized for her work uncovering how iron and sulfur drive the key steps and molecules involved in radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) enzymes reactions. She is known for discovering a new organometallic intermediate and was the first to observe the fleeting deoxyadenosyl radical that drives the reaction, deepening the scientific community’s understanding of early reaction steps and impacting studies on all radical SAM enzymes.

She received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University.

Broderick is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a recipient of the Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Ian Scott Medal from the Texas A&M University section of the ACS.

She has 126 peer-reviewed articles and is an associate editor for the “Journal of Biological Chemistry.”

Broderick will collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.