Throughout this week, Manuel Navia, a bio-chemistry expert, will speak to several groups on campus about his accomplishments in medical research and how they are still successful now.

Navia works as senior vice president of Essential Therapeutics, which is a drug discovery firm in Massachusetts.

Navia was the first to help in finding the enzyme that was targeted with another drug in treating glaucoma. He also helped in discovering the first three-dimensional structure of an AIDS target protein, the HIV-I protease responsible for the maturation of HIV, a press release stated.

“I first heard about him in a bio-chemistry text book,” Bob Chesnut, assistant chemistry professor, said. “I saw the list of accomplishments and knew he would be a very distinguished guest.”

Navia’s first presentation on campus is titled “Synthesis of the Artificial Sweetner Aspartame by Thermolysin: An X-Ray Structural Study” at 4:00 p.m. Wednesday in Room 1205 of the Physical Science building.

On Thursday at 7 p.m., Navia will speak about “Entrepreneurship in the Drug Industry” which is a presentation to Delta Sigma Pi, a professional business fraternity.

His final presentation will be on Friday at 10 a.m. in Room 1620 of Lantz Arena.

The lecture,”Entrepreneurial Development of Drugs for Developing Countries,” will be given to the Public Health Administration class taught by Julie Dietz, associate health studies professor, Dietz said.

All Eastern students and members of the community are encouraged to attend Navia’s presentation.