Patrick Harran  Patrick Harran (born 13 July 1969) is an American organic chemist who has held the D. J. & J. M. Cram Chair in Organic Chemistry, an endowed chair at the University of California, Los Angeles, since 2008. Prior to taking this position he was a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Harran was educated at Skidmore College graduating in 1990. He went on to Yale University, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in 1995. Harran's research is focused on the total synthesis of natural products, design of novel chemical compounds to study protein–protein interactions, and medicinal chemistry. On December 29, 2008, a fire in Harran's UCLA laboratory fatally burned research assistant Sheri Sangji. Harran in 2011 was charged with four felony counts of willfully violating occupational safety standards in the case, carrying a maximum jail term of 4.5 years. It was the first time any American academic had been criminally charged for a laboratory accident. Representatives of Harran, and the University's Board of Regents who were also charged in the incident, disputed the charges. Harran and prosecutors in 2014 reached a deferred prosecution agreement in which Harran was ordered to pay $10,000 to a local burn center and do 800 hours of community service. Deputy District Attorney Craig W. Hum said that the penalty was similar to any sentence Harran would have received if convicted, while Sangji's family criticized it as "barely a slap on the wrist". The charges were subsequently dropped in 2018, in accordance with the settlement terms.