Arthur Broom

The Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library notes the passing of Dr. Arthur D. Broom on May 10, 2020. Dr. Broom was born July 26, 1937 in the Panama Canal Zone. Dr. Broom’s early years were spent in San Antonio, Texas where he attended San Antonio College and later the University of Texas – Austin. Dr. Broom did postgraduate training at Arizona State University where he was awarded his Ph.D. degree (The Chemical Synthesis of Certain Methylated Purine Nucleosides) in 1964. Dr. Broom was a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health from 1964-66 whereupon he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Utah College of Pharmacy by Dr. Ewart Swinyard.

Along with Dr. Swinyard, Dr. Broom played and important role in the establishing the Department of Medicinal Chemistry serving as a professor, research director and department chair. Over the course of his research career, Dr Broom was the author and co-contributor of numerous publications ranging from studies on drug discovery, organic chemistry, peptide chemistry and HIV. Dr. Broom retired in 2010 as Emeritus Professor, but continued to serve on advisory committees most notably for the implementation of the master plan and facility program of the L.S. Skaggs, Jr. Research Building which was completed in 2013 and dedicated the following year.