Debbie C. Crans

Debbie C. Crans is a professor of chemistry at Colorado State University, specializing in fundamental chemistry and biochemistry of drugs with particular interest in vanadium and other transition metal ions as metals in medicine and their mechanisms of toxicity. She currently resides in Northern Colorado with her husband and three daughters. One daughter is pursuing the PhD in chemistry at Northwestern University, one is an undergraduate student at Colorado State University, and one works as a financial planner.

Debbie Crans studied at the University of Copenhagen, studying for her Cand. Scient. 1. part (BS) in 1974–1978, then her Cand. Scient. 2. part (research) in 1978–1980.She then moved to Harvard University in the US to work under George M. Whitesides, and she successfully defended her PhD dissertation on "Methodology in Enzyme-Catalyzed Organic Synthesis: Glycerol Kinase Catalyzed Phosphorylations".She went on to do postdoctoral work with Orville L. Chapman and Paul D. Boyer at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1985–1986, studying "Mechanistic Enzymology on F1-ATP Synthase from Chloroplasts and Beef Heart".

Crans is best known for her work on the role of vanadium in biological systems, especially the effects of its compounds on diabetes.She has worked as senior editor several books on vanadium, such as Vanadium Compounds: Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Therapeutic Applications, Vanadium: The Versatile Metal and Vanadium in Biochemistry. Crans served as chair of the American Chemical Society in 2015 and 2016. She has also been associate editor for The Journal of Chemistry and the Coordination Chemistry Reviews.

International Awards

2019 ACS award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry

2015 Arthur P Cope ACS Scholar award

2012 Lectureship award, Japanese Coordination Chemistry Society

2004 Vanadis award from the International Vanadium Symposium in Szeged

2000 Japan Society of Promotion of Science award

2000 Alexander Humboldt Senior Research awardee

National Awards

2017 ChemLuminary Awards Young Chemists Committee

2016 Royal Society Fellow

2014 AAAS Fellow

2009 ACS Fellow

1993-96 Alfred P Sloan Research Fellow

1994 Alberta Heritage Foundation award

1990-1992 Eli Lilly Young Investigator award

1989-1994 National Institutes of Health FIRST award

Crans has contributed to over 215 peer-reviewed articles. As ofspring of 2019, her work has been cited 7,200 times excluding self-citations making her h-index of 53. Her review paper, "The chemistry and biochemistry of vanadium and the biological activities exerted by vanadium compounds" has been cited over 900 times. Her study on "Effects of vanadium complexes with organic ligands on glucose metabolism: a comparison study in diabetic rats" describes the use of vanadium compounds as hypoglycemic agents, and it has been widely cited.