Several decades ago, Ron Borchardt keyed in on something that would help ensure the Kansas University School of Pharmacy had a foothold in the future.

“There was this fledgling little industry,” recalled Val Stella, KU professor of pharmaceutical chemistry and a longtime colleague of Borchardt. “It was called biotechnology.”

When Borchardt became chairman of the pharmaceutical chemistry department, he looked at the future of the field and shaped ways KU could train students not only for traditional pharmacy jobs but also to work in the emerging biotech industry, Stella explained. “He was instrumental in us adjusting for the times and preparing students.”

This and other achievements by Borchardt, recently retired Solon E. Summerfield Distinguished Professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at KU, inspired a three-day conference in his honor.

“A Tribute to Ronald T. Borchardt — Teacher, Mentor, Scientist, Colleague, Leader and Friend” kicked off Wednesday evening with a crowd of about 200 at the KU School of Pharmacy building for a keynote address by John Martin, chairman and CEO of Gilead Sciences — a fast-growing biopharmaceutical company known for its hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi, as well as Tamiflu and several HIV-fighting drugs.

Recently retired Kansas University professor Ronald T. Borchardt is all smiles as he greets friends Wednesday at KU's School of Pharmacy, where he was honored for his service.

Martin, too, knew Borchardt’s research and called him an influence on his career since getting to know him in the early 1980s.

Stella said the conference was envisioned to focus on Borchardt’s career and contributions, and also to reunite past and present KU scientists in a venue where they could share updates on their work in the field.

Science-wise, Borchardt was a “principal driver” of a new area of research in the pharmacy field that used cell culture techniques to look at how drugs are absorbed in the body, Stella said. That new technique helped Stella — who invented or co-invented dozens of patents that led to drugs for treating epilepsy, cancer and AIDS — solve problems in his own work, he said, and its influence was expected to be highlighted by other speakers at the conference as well.

Leadership-wise, Stella credited Borchardt with helping KU’s pharmaceutical chemistry department survive through a transitional period, and grow.

In opening comments for the conference, Dean of Pharmacy Ken Audus praised Borchardt’s role in graduate education and, particularly, global education, which Audus said would be one of the professor’s “legacies.”

In the mid-1990s, Audus said, Borchardt saw that students were entering a globalized industry and many would likely spend part of their careers abroad, Audus said. Knowing it would be important to start exposing students early to science at the international level, Borchardt founded the Globalization of Pharmaceutics Education Network, or GPEN.

The nonprofit GPEN began in 1996 with 10 schools from across the globe with strong pharmaceutics programs and has since grown to 52 members and is officially affiliated with and housed at KU, Audus said.

Borchardt also was praised as a mentor and friend, and current and former students and colleagues donated more than $1.8 million to establish the Ronald T. Borchardt Professorship honoring him.

The School of Pharmacy announced in September that Distinguished Professor David Volkin, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, was chosen for the new professorship.

The Borchardt tribute lecture was scheduled to continue Thursday and Friday at Theatre Lawrence, with lectures by scientists from KU and other universities, talks by industry representatives, poster sessions and a panel discussion.

Borchardt technically retired in May from KU, where he worked more than 44 years. He told the Journal-World at the time that he hoped to have more time for family but continue to be professionally active — an ability he called “one of the nice things about academic life.”