Professor Shen was born in Peking, China in 1924. He graduated from National Central University of China in 1946, and a year later traveled to England to study organic chemistry on an Overseas Scholarship form the Chinese Ministry of Education. In 1950,  he came to the United States for a postdoctoral position at Ohio State University, followed by a research associateship at MIT. From MIT, he joined Merck & Co. in 1956. He was appointed to the U.Va. Chemistry Department in 1986 as Commonwealth Professor of Chemistry, and in 1986 he was  named the Alfred Burger Professor of Medicinal Chemistry. Professor Shen’s research focused on the development of three antiinflammatory – analgesic drugs (indomethacin, clinoril®, Dolobid®), and potential chemo-therapeutic agents for viral infections, immunolgical, neoplastic, and other metabolic disease. He also synthesized and characterized molecular probes for biomembrane receptors and receptor ligands for targeted drug delivery. Professor Shen served on many editorial boards including the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. He received many awards throughout his career, including the Rene Descartes Medal, the Galileo Medal of Scientific Achievement, and an Achievement Award from the Chinese Institute of Engineers-USA. He was also a fellow of the AAAS.