Teaching award

A distinguished professor of pharmaceutical chemistry is the recipient of this year’s Chancellors Club Career Teaching Award for 2005.

Ronald T. Borchardt, Solon E. Summerfield distinguished professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, received the award Friday.

The $5,000 award honors a senior KU faculty member who exemplifies the university’s commitment to outstanding teaching.

Since joining the KU faculty in 1971, Borchardt has mentored approximately 170 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and visiting scientists.

In 2003, he received the American Pharmaceutical Assn.’s Takeru Higuchi Research Prize and the American Chemical Society’s Smissman-Bristol-Myers Squibb Award in Medical Chemistry.

He also has received the Dolph C. Simons Sr. Research Award in the Biomedical Sciences and the Louis Byrd Graduate Educator Award, both from KU. Borchardt has received the Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientists Award from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Volwiler Research Achievement Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Borchardt has served as a consultant for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as the president of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and as co-founder of ProQuest Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Dale Abrahamson, left, and Ron Borchardt

He has authored or co-authored approximately 490 publications and 450 abstracts and has served as the editor for eight individual books and two series of books. He is on the board of nine professional journals, and he serves as editor-in-chief of The Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

He joined the KU faculty in 1971 as an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry. During his career at KU, Borchardt has taught in the departments of biochemistry, medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry, a reflection of the breadth of his scientific interests. From 1991 to 1993, he served as acting dean of the School of Pharmacy, and he was the chairman of the department of pharmaceutical chemistry from 1983 to 1998.

Research award

A Kansas University Medical Center scientist renowned for his research into kidney development is this year’s recipient of the Chancellors Club Research Award.

Dale R. Abrahamson, chairman of the department of anatomy and cell biology at Kansas University Medical Center, received the award Friday at the club’s 28th annual celebration.

Abrahamson’s research explores normal and abnormal kidney development patterns, with the hope of one day providing insight into how to treat kidney disease.

Abrahamson has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1980 and is a principal investigator for NIH research. In addition, he has served as the president of the Histochemical Society, as a fellow of the American Heart Assn. and on the editorial boards of three professional journals. He has published more than 100 original research articles in leading journals and has made 82 extramural formal presentations before audiences in the United States and abroad.

In 1986, Abrahamson received the prestigious Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Assn. In 1993, he won the MERIT Award from the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which guarantees full support of research for 10 years.

He became of member of the KU faculty in 1998 and is the associate director of the Kidney Institute. He has mentored six graduate students and four post-doctoral trainees.The $5,000 annual award honors a KU Medical Center researcher whose work has led to significant scientific discoveries.

Candidates for the Chancellors Club Research Award are nominated by colleagues, students and alumni.

The Chancellors Club, established in 1977 by the Kansas University Endowment Association, is KU’s major-donor organization.