About Nelson Voldeng Memorial Lecture

A. Nelson Voldeng was Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Arkansas, College of Pharmacy from 1964 until lingering illness forced his retirement in 1986. Nelson was born and raised in the south-central Kansas town of Wellington. He earned both his B.S. in Pharmacy (1960) and his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry (1964) at the University of Kansas. His dissertation advisor was the late Dr. Edward E. Smissman. Nelson was well known for his efforts to encourage promising undergraduate pharmacy students to continue their education in graduate studies in the pharmaceutical sciences. Numerous pharmacy students worked with him in his research laboratory and many of these students made presentation at MALTO meetings. Nelson’s research interest included the synthesis of novel, broad-spectrum penicillin derivatives and the synthesis of long-acting opiate analgesics derived from pentapeptides.

Nelson was one of the founding organizers of our MALTO organization. Since 1973, when MALTO held its first meeting, Nelson provided energetic leadership, and worked tirelessly to help bring the idea of an annual regional medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy meeting to fruition. Until his death in 1987, Nelson continued to contribute his energies to ensure the successful growth of MALTO.

The MALTO faculty voted unanimously in 1987 to name the annual lecture by a visiting scientist the “A. Nelson Voldeng Memorial Lecture” in recognition of Nelson’s invaluable contributions to MALTO. The first A. Nelson Voldeng Memorial Lecture was presented on June 13, 1988, during the 15th Annual MALTO Meeting held at Auburn University. Dr. Wendel L. Nelson, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University Of Washington School Of Pharmacy, who had been a fellow graduate student of Voldeng and a personal friend of long standing, presented this inaugural lecture.

The MALTO faculty designed a special plague commemorating the A. Nelson VoldengMemorial Lecture. This plaque and an honorarium are presented annually to the visiting scientist lecturer. A copy of the first plaque was presented by MALTO to Nelson’s wife, Mrs. Diana Voldeng of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Previous Nelson Voldeng Memorial Lecturers:

1988 Wendel L. Nelson, University of Washington

1989 Peter Gund, Merck, Sharpe and Dohme Laboratories

1990 Walter Korfmacher, National Center for Toxicological Research

1991 Duane D. Miller, Ohio State University

1992 Corwin Hansch, Pamona College

1993 William H. Pirkle, University of Illinois

1994 J. Andrew McCammon, University of Houston

1995 Robert P. Hanzlik, University of Kansas

1996 James A. Bristol, Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals

1997 Yvonne Martin, Abbott Laboratories

1998 Gunda Georg, University of Kansas

1999 Michael F. Rafferty, Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals

2000 Robert C. Anderson, Sphinx Pharmaceuticals, a Division of Eli Lilly & Company

2001 Phillip Crews, University of California at Santa Cruz

2002 David H. Coy, Tulane Medical College

2003 Dennis M. Zimmerman, Eli Lilly and Company

2004 Mitchell S. Steiner, MD, FACS, GTx, Inc.

2005 F. Ivy Carroll, RTI International

2006 Michael Eissenstat, Sequoia Pharmaceuticals

2007 Peter A. Crooks, University of Kentucky

2008 Kenner C. Rice, National Institute on Drug Abuse

2009 Thomas R. Webb, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

2010 Derek Lowe, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

2011 Harold Kohn, University of North Carolina

2012 James D. McChesney, Arbor Therapeutics, LLC, Ironstone Separations, Inc.,

Cypress Creek Pharma, Inc.

2013 Thomas E. Prisinzano, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Kansas

2014 Richard E. Lee, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital

2015 Alan Kozikowski, University of Illinois at Chicago

2016 Richard A.F. Dickson, Texas Heart Institute

2017 Maria Alvim-Gaston, Eli Lilly and Company

2018 Carol Fierke, Texas A&M University

2019 Jeffrey Aube, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2022 Douglas Kinghorn, The Ohio State University

2023 Stephen F. Martin, University of Texas at Austin

2024 Pankaj Daga, Neuron23, Inc.