These annual awards are given by the Arkansas Biosciences Institute. The awards recognize two individuals, one from a research-intensive institution and one from a primarily undergraduate institution, who have contributed significantly to enhancing the impact of biomedical research across Arkansas. The awards are intended to honor the commitment of Dr. Lawrence E. Cornett for expanding opportunities for students, faculty, and institutions in Arkansas to conduct biomedical research within the mission of the National Institutes of Health.
2026 Awardees
Alan Tackett, PhD
2026 Research-Intensive Institution Awardee
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Alan J. Tackett, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where he also serves as Deputy Director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and holds the Scharlau Family Endowed Chair for Cancer Research. He earned his doctorate at UAMS.
Dr. Tackett’s research asks why immunotherapy drugs work dramatically well for some cancer patients and barely at all for others, with the goal of using that understanding to design therapies that extend the benefit to everyone. His work centers on the treatment of metastatic melanoma, and he leads a translational team of researchers, oncologists, surgeons, and pathologists at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
Joe Jeffers, PhD
2026 Primarily Undergraduate Institution Awardee
Ouachita Baptist University
Joe Jeffers received his B.S. in Professional Chemistry from Ouachita Baptist University and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Purdue University. He joined the OBU faculty in 1972 as Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biology and retired in 2017 after 45.5 years at OBU.
Jeffers served ten years as founding dean of the OBU School of Natural Sciences. During that time, he persuaded two alumni to fund a summer undergraduate research program, which paid stipends to students and faculty. One of those donors eventually endowed that program. The J.D. Patterson program put OBU in position to be among the undergraduate institutions included in the BRIN/INBRE initiative from UAMS and UA-Fayetteville. Jeffers was a member of the INBRE Steering Committee from its inception until his retirement.
He spent several summers and a sabbatical semester working with Gary Bannon at UAMS Biochemistry and Wesley Burks at Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute on nut allergy epitopes. Jeffers was three times selected as American Chemical Society Central Arkansas Professor of the Year, nominated by students. He currently serves as Chair of the ACS Division of the History of Chemistry. He is the author of Frederick Sanger: Two-Time Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (Springer International Publications) and “Sanger, Frederick” in Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
