Ron joined the department in 1971 and was chair from 1976 to 1982.  He was a recipient of the Russell Award for Excellence in Research and was named Sumwalt Professor in Science and Engineering in 1983.  In all aspects of his academic career at the University of South Carolina, Ron Fisher was an outstanding role model for students and faculty alike.  The first Ronald Fisher Lecture was given by his mentor, Efraim Racker, Cornell University.

Previous lecturers:

Dr. Efraim Racker, M.D., Cornell University - 1987
Dr. Joseph J. Villafranca, Pennsylvania State University - 1988
Dr. Peter M. Blumberg, National Cancer Institute - 1989
Dr. Charles R. Cantor, Columbia University - 1989
Dr. Paul M. Gallop, Children's Hospital, Boston - 1990
Dr. Harold L. Moses M.D., Vanderbilt University School of Medicine - 1992
Dr. Julian A. Peterson, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center - 1994
Dr. Jacqueline K. Barton, California Institute of Technology - 1995
Dr. Michael R. Waterman, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine - 1997
Dr. Benoit de Crombrugghe, University of Texas - 1998
Dr. John H. Law, University of Arizona - 1999
Dr. Isao Morishima, Kyoto University, Japan - 2004
Dr. Dongxia Wang, John Hopkins University School of Medicine - 2004
Dr. Albert S. Mildvan, John Hopkins University - 2004
Dr. Thomas O'Halloran, Northwestern University - 2007
Dr. Vern Schramm, Albert Einstein College of Medicine - 2008
Dr. JoAnne Stubbe, Massachusetts Institute of Technology- 2009
Dr. Michael Marletta, University of California Berkley - 2010
Dr. Valeria Culotta, John Hopkins University - 2011
Dr. Younan Xia, Georgia Institute of Technology - 2013
Dr. John Johnson, Scripps Institute - 2013
Dr. John Groves, Princeton - 2016