Richard B. Silverman teaches organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and enzyme chemistry and carries out research in the area of medicinal chemistry, particularly related to potential treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Silverman received his PhD in organic chemistry from Harvard University in 1974. After two years as a NIH postdoctoral fellow at Brandeis University, he joined the chemistry faculty at Northwestern University.

Silverman has published 240 research articles, holds 39 domestic and foreign patents, and has written four books. He is the inventor of LyricaTM (pregabalin), a blockbuster drug marketed worldwide by Pfizer for refractory epilepsy, neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia, and (in Europe) for generalized anxiety disorder.

Awards include: DuPont Young Faculty Fellow (1976), Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (1981-1985), NIH Research Career Development Award (1982-1987), Fellow of the American Institute of Chemists (1985), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1990), and Arthur C. Cope Senior Scholar Award of the American Chemical Society (2003). He is the recipient of several teaching awards, including the E. LeRoy Hall Award for Teaching Excellence and the Excellence in Chemistry Education Award from the Northwestern University Chapter of Alpha Chi Sigma Chemistry Fraternity (1999), the Northwestern University Alumni Teaching Award (2000), and the Charles Deering McCormick Chair in Teaching Excellence (2001). He is or has been on the editorial advisory boards of eight professional journals. Silverman and his wife, Barbara, have three children, two in New York and one in Seattle.