Past President

Robert Borris completed degrees in Biology and Pharmacy prior to receiving his Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy (1981) from the Univ. Illinois at Chicago. Following postdoctoral research at the Univ. Zurich, he held a faculty position at Rutgers University before joining the drug discovery program at Merck Research Laboratories, where he spent the majority of his career. More recently he has served as Vice President for Botanical Science at the Council for Responsible Nutrition in Washington DC. Currently, he is Associate Dean for Research & Associate Professor at the newly created College of Pharmacy Univ. Hawaii at Hilo, where he is helping to establish the Pacific Basin’s first school of Pharmacy. He attended his first ASP meeting in 1979 at Purdue University, and over the years he has presented/co-authored a dozen or more posters and presentations at ASP meetings. As ASP president he worked to increase the participation of industrial scientists in the Society. Robert has enjoyed every ASP meeting he has attended, but if he absolutely “had to single out one meeting as his favorite, it would be the Oaxaca (2001) meeting.” Also, he has enjoyed the excellent science and spectacular social programs at the numerous ASP meetings he has attended. (Scott Baggett)