College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Iowa State University
INDEX
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
LAS Calendar | E-Mail/Phones |

    Citation of Merit
    To distinguished alumni of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and received national or international recognition. Award established in 1976.

    Burton Christensen
    BS 1952
    Chemistry
    Henderson, Nevada

    A chemist for 36 years for pharmaceutical giant Merck, Burton Christensen retired as senior vice president of Merck’s research laboratories. While at Merck, he was also the co-inventor of three antibiotics that are still in use throughout the world. One of those drugs, Fosmomysin, treats gastrointestinal infections in pre-mature infants. Before the drug was invented, 18 of 20 children who were afflicted with the problem would die. When the trial for Christensen’s new antibiotic was concluded, all the children lived.

    Another drug Christensen invented, Imipenem, was a new class of antibiotics that broaden the spectrum of antibiotics today. While he was at Merck, Christensen received the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award, the Merck Directors Scientific Award, and the Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemistry.

    After retiring in 1992, Christensen consulted for several different firms before joining Theravance, Inc., as that company’s executive vice president for research. While at Theravance, Christensen has designed a drug, Telavancin, that may work three times as fast the current best antibiotic to quell a staph infection. In a middle-stage trial of the drug, it cured 96% of the patients and is currently awaiting FDA approval.

    Now a pharmaceutical consultant, Christensen has served on the Department of Chemistry’s Industrial Advisory Council.

Burton Christensen

Burton Christensen
Air Force Aerospace Studies - Anthropology - Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology - Chemistry - Computer Science
Ecology, Evolution & Organismal Biology - Economics - English - Genetics, Development & Cell Biology - Geological & Atmospheric Sciences
Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication - History - Mathematics - Military Science - Music - Naval Science
Philosophy & Religious Studies - Physics and Astronomy - Political Science - Psychology - Sociology - Statistics - World Languages & Cultures
African American Studies - American Indian Studies - Biological/Premedical Illustration - Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Classical Studies - Communication Studies - Criminal Justice Studies - Environmental Science - Environmental Studies - Interdisciplinary Studies
International Studies - Liberal Studies - Linguistics - Software Engineering - Speech Communication - U.S. Latino/a Studies - Women's Studies