Herman O. Sintim obtained his BS from University College London (Medicinal Chemistry). He did his DPhil in organic chemistry (total synthesis of zaragozic acids) at University of Oxford under Prof. David Hodgson. He held his first postdoctoral position at Oxford with Prof Tim Donohoe (total synthesis of epiaustraline and lactacystin) and a second postdoc at Stanford with Eric Kool (Chemical Biology; DNA polymerases).

In 2006, he joined the faculty at the University of Maryland at College Park (UMD), where he rose through the ranks to become a full professor. In 2016, Herman moved to Purdue University, where he was the Drug Discovery Professor (2016 to 2022), Richard B. Wetherill Professor of Chemistry and Drug Discovery (2022 to 2023) and Distinguished Professor (2023 to 2024). In January 2025, Herman moved to the University of Notre Dame and is currently the Grace-Rupley Professor of Chemical Biology and the Associate Director of Harper Cancer Institute.

From 2020 to 2022, on leave from Purdue, Herman served as a Program Director at the National science Foundation (Chemistry Division). Herman’s research interests span diverse topics, including synthesis of bioactive compounds, chemical biology of cyclic di- and oligonucleotides and protein kinase signaling. Herman's national awards include NSF CAREER award, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, Kavli fellow and Sigma Xi Distinguished lecturer. He has cofounded two startup companies, KinaRx and Sinem Bio LLC.