In Honor of Professor Lester A. Mitscher on the occasion of his 80<sup>th</sup> Birthday
Authors: Longqin Hu, Binghe Wang
Journal: Medicinal Research Reviews (2012)

This issue of Medicinal Research Reviews is dedicated to Professor Lester A. Mitscher, University Distinguished Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, The University of Kansas (KU), on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Professor Mitscher received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry in 1958 from Wayne State University, where he worked on the structure of coffee oil diterpenes and on optical rotatory dispersion under Professor Carl Djerassi. He continued his work on natural product chemistry in antibiotic discovery at Lederle Laboratories from 1958 to 1967 and rose to group leader. He moved from industry to academia in 1967 and became a professor in Natural Products Chemistry at The Ohio State University. In 1975, he accepted a University Distinguished Professorship and assumed the Chairmanship in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at The University of Kansas, a position that he held for 17 years. Professor Mitscher has held conjoint academic appointments at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and the Victorian College of Pharmacy, Melbourne, Australia. His academic studies have centered about spectroscopy, synthesis, screening, and structure determination primarily of naturally occurring antimicrobial, anticancer, and antimutagenic agents, and development of combinatorial methodologies. He has published actively in the field of herbal medicines and medicinal chemistry with over 280 research articles/reviews and seven books on drug discovery and properties. Professor Mitscher served in and chaired the Biological and Natural Products Study Section for the NIH; he was elected president of American Society for Pharmacognosy and Chair of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry, American Chemical Society. He is a member of the executive committee of the International Organization for Chemistry in Developing Countries and the Senior Advisory Committee of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development. He has traveled widely internationally lecturing and performing research. He consults extensively in the pharmaceutical industry and for the National Institutes of Health. His research awards include the Smissman Award in Medicinal Chemistry (American Chemical Society), Volweiler Award (American Association for Pharmaceutical Education), the Research Achievement Award in Natural Products Chemistry (American Pharmaceutical Association), the Award in Medicinal Chemistry (Medicinal Chemistry Division, American Chemical Society), and the Norman Farnsworth Research Achievement Award (American Society for Pharmacognosy). He is an Elected Fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Pharmacognosy, and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. He is also a member of the Medicinal Chemistry Roll of Honor of the American Chemical Society and American Chemical Society Medicinal Chemistry Division Hall of Fame. He served as editors and has been on editorial advisory boards of many scientific journals including the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Heterocycles, the Journal of Antibiotics, Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, Medicinal Research Reviews, and the Saudi Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Especially for this journal, Professor Mitscher served as the Editor-in-Chief of Medicinal Research Reviews between 1996 and 1998 and has been a contributing editor since the inception of this journal. Professor Mitscher has been a great leader and educator in medicinal chemistry. As graduate students in the KU Department of Medicinal Chemistry during the period when Professor Mitscher was the Chairman, we benefited from the nurturing environment, the well-structured curriculum, and the long-standing commitment to graduate education first hand. We credit the success of the program to the great faculty and the leadership of Professor Mitscher, the longest serving chair in an eminent department started by Dr. Edward Smissman. To celebrate the 80th birthday and the retirement of Professor Mitscher, the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at KU organized the Lester A. Mitscher Symposium on May 13, 2011 to honor his many contributions to the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, the School of Pharmacy, and the University in general. We dedicate this special issue of Medicinal Research Reviews to Professor Lester A. Mitscher on the occasion of his 80th birthday as a tribute to his many outstanding contributions to various aspects of natural product chemistry and medicinal chemistry, to his devotion to colleagues in both academia and industry, and to his mentorship of many students and postdoctoral associates in his laboratory and department.