Professor Thompson received Bachelor degrees in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Missouri-Columbia (1978) and a Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry from Colorado State University (1984) for his work with Louis S. Hegedus. After postdoctoral studies with James K. Hurst at the Oregon Health & Sciences University (1984-1987), he joined the Department of Chemical & Biological Sciences there as an Assistant Professor (1987-1994). He then moved to the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University where he has held the position of Professor since 2000. Prof. Thompson has served as the Head of the Organic Chemistry Division (2003-2010), the Director of the Purdue Specialized NCI Experimental Therapeutics – Chemical Biology Consortium program (2016-2021), and the Director of the Medicinal Chemistry Group in the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research (2017-2020). Dr. Thompson has published over 170 papers and been awarded 9 patents in areas focused on the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients by telescoped continuous manufacturing methods, development of bioresponsive self-assembling materials for gene and drug delivery, and accelerated protein structure determination using novel materials and sample preparation techniques.