Bruce and Lassie Hammock — UC Davis Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock and his wife, Lassie, at the Hammock class reunion held in 2018. In back are shared memories of family, friends, former students and colleagues.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Gathering of Giants

Scientists from Throughout the World to Honor Bruce Hammock, 1947-2026

by Kathy Keatley Garvey
October 09, 2026

Six NAS members standing side-by-side outdoors by a wooden fence, smiling. — A 2024 gathering of UC Davis faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences: From left are Walter Leal, elected in 2024; Distinguished Professor Stephen Kowalczykowski, elected in 2007; Distinguished Professor Emeritus Tilahun Yilma, elected in 2004; Distinguished Professor Emeritus J. Clark Lagarias, elected in 2024; and Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock, elected in 1999.

Scientists, colleagues, collaborators and former students from throughout the world will honor the "Life and Legacy of Bruce Hammock" at a memorial set for 1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 10 in California Hall, UC Davis campus.

UC Davis Chancellor Gary May will deliver the opening remarks, and Ashley Stokes, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, will present "a dean's reflections."

Tributes from friends and colleagues will follow. The list includes:
Colin Cameron, UC Davis; Gino Cortopassi, UC Davis; Version Aditi Das, Georgia Tech; Matthew Edin, National Institute of Environmental Sciences, National Institute of Health; Sumanta Goswami, Charles River Laboratory, San Francisco; Lawrence Harshman, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Denise Manker, Bayer Crop Science, retired; Dipak Panigrahy, Harvard Medical School; Glenn Prestwich, University of Utah and University of Stony Brook; Harold Schmitz, The March Group; Justin Siegel, UC Davis; Thomas Sparks, Agrilucent; Gang Sun, UC Davis; Jeanette Van Emon, American Chemical Society Board of Directors; Rosemary Walzem, Texas A&M; Craig Wheelock, Karolinska Institutet; Keith Wing, Keith D. Wing Consulting; Chengpeng Xu, UC Davis; Ting Xu, China Agricultural University; Tilahun Yilma, UC Davis; and Lin Zhang, UC Davis. (Thomas Sparks was Hammock's first graduate student and Keith Wing was his second.)

An open microphone session will follow. Tom Hammock, son of Bruce and Lassie Hammock, will give the family remarks and acknowledgment. Joanna Chiu, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will deliver the closing remarks.

The memorial will conclude with a reception. Attendees will have the opportunity to write memories in the Bruce Hammock Memory Book, said UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal, coordinator of the memorial. The event will be broadcast live on YouTube. To register to attend the memorial, access https://forms.gle/eRssVnZyVZBV6is9A. This is the Zoom link to register to see the webinar on YouTube.

Leal, former chair of the Department of Entomology, says B.R.U.C.E stands for: B: Brilliant scientist; R: Relentlessly curious; U: Unassuming; C: Champion of Colleagues; and E: Extraordinary Mentor.

Hammock died Jan. 5, 2026 at age 78.

Internationally renowned, Hammock co-discovered soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH)--an enzyme in the human body that breaks down regulatory fatty acids--and his 50 years of research on sEH inhibitors led to therapeutic drug discoveries targeting such diseases as pain, eye and kidney disease, traumatic brain injury and stroke, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer's disease.

"Bruce Hammock spent decades uncovering the biology of soluble epoxide hydrolase and demonstrating its potential as a therapeutic target,” said UC Davis doctoral alumna Cindy McReynolds Brown, chief executive officer of EicOsis Human Health LLC, the company that the two co-founded in 2011 to fulfill Hammock’s commitment to find safer and more effective ways to treat chronic pain.. “He is remembered not only for his scientific accomplishments, but also for the strong collaborations he built and the many scientists he brought together throughout his career.” Hammock was her major professor.

Hammock, who joined the UC Davis faculty in 1980, held a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. His chemistry, toxicology, biochemistry, entomology and human health research led to elected membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors; scores of professional honors and awards; and accolades from administrators, colleagues, researchers, alumni and students.

For 35 years, Hammock directed the UC Davis Superfund Program, a multidisciplinary program funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences that crossed multidisciplines, including engineering, soil and water contamination, toxicology and analytical chemistry. Hammock supported scores of pre- and postdoctoral scholars in interdisciplinary research in five different colleges and graduate groups on campus. For 14 years, he directed an NIH Training Grant in Biotechnology at UC Davis for cross-training in physical and biological sciences.

Hammock is survived by his wife, Lassie; sons Bruce and Tom; daughter Frances, and two grandchildren Max and Lelia Ioana.

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