News Releases
8/13/07
A pharmaceutical researcher has established estate plans to benefit KU’s Department of Chemistry. University of Kansas alumnus Keith Wilner said he wants to pay KU back for setting him on the path to a successful career.
Wilner, who graduated from KU in 1978 with a BA in chemistry, has created the Keith D. Wilner Professorship in Chemistry. The gift honors two of Wilner’s former professors, Ralph Christoffersen and Richard Givens.
“KU to me was the starting point,” Wilner said. “It gave me the direction of pharmacology, which led to my career.”
For the past two decades, Wilner has conducted early clinical drug trials for Pfizer, the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company. The clinical trials determine whether new drugs are safe and effective for humans. While some of the drugs are known primarily to pharmacists, physicians and the patients who use them, at least one drug Wilner studied has become a household name. In the mid-1990’s, he worked on the first clinical trials in the United States for a blood pressure drug that had the unusual side effect of counteracting male impotence. The result was Viagra – which turned out to be a blockbuster for Pfizer.
“It put the company on the map,” Wilner said of the 150-year-old pharmaceutical firm.
Joe Heppert, chair of KU’s chemistry department, said he’s grateful for Wilner’s future gift.
“This gift is a tremendous contribution to the research and teaching missions of the chemistry department at KU,” Hippert said.
“Resources of this kind are extremely valuable to us in recognizing the accomplishments of talented faculty and supporting them as they continue to work with undergraduate and graduate students.”
When Wilner enrolled at the University of Kansas, he didn’t know what pharmacology was. But his KU professors changed that. And after graduating, Wilner began studying for his next degree – a Ph.D. in pharmacology.
Wilner, who lives in La Jolla, Calif., said he chose to attend KU in part because as a teen growing up in St. Louis he was drawn to the KU campus.
“The campus itself was one of the driving forces,” Wilner said. “It was really nice, and it felt like a campus.”
His experiences at KU, from living in Oliver Hall to consulting with professors in and out of the classroom, were positive.
Wilner said he was particularly impressed by his KU professors, who, though some of them taught classes to several hundred students at a time, were available to help individual students. One of those professors with an open-door policy was Richard Givens, whom Wilner described as a great lecturer.
“I met a lot of people, enjoyed my time there, and the people I met gave the direction in pharmacology, which led to my career.”
The gift will be managed by KU Endowment Association, an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.
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