Huw M. L. Davies was born in Aberystwyth, Wales, UK. He received his B. Sc. degree from University College Cardiff, Wales (1977) and his Ph. D degree from the University of East Anglia (1980). After a post-doctoral position at Princeton University (1980-1983), he joined the faculty at Wake Forest University (1883-1995). After being promoted to full professor he moved to the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York (1995-2008) where he held the positions of UB Distinguished Professor and Larkin Professor of Organic Chemistry. In 2008 he moved to Emory University as the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Chemistry.
Professor Davies’ research emphasizes the development of new enantioselective synthetic methods and their applications in total synthesis and drug discovery. A major current theme of his program is catalytic asymmetric C–H functionalization by means of rhodium-carbene induced C–H insertion. He is currently the Director of the NSF Center for Chemical Innovation for Selective C-H Functionalization, which brings together 23 faculty members from 15 universities.