Professional Achievement, College of Engineering, Letters, and Science

Lisa (Foellmi) Adams ’85 earned her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, leading to a successful career within her field. “I am honored and humbled to receive this recognition,” Adams said. “It is a crowning award to a fulfilling career of finding medicines to improve people’s lives, and a continuing passion to protect the environment.”

Adams, a graduate of La Crosse’s Logan High School, was attracted to Viterbo for its smaller size and excellent instructor-to-student ratio. “There was a high percentage of female students at Viterbo in 1981,” she explained. “I felt strong support and value as a woman majoring in chemistry, which was one known as one of the ‘hard science’ majors that was typically dominated by men.” Adams went on to say that she enjoyed the small campus, and she felt safe and cared for by faculty and staff.

What she called an exceptional scientific education at Viterbo prepared her to become an ethical, compassionate, and productive member of society while also setting the stage for additional educational goals and her professional career. Adams earned her Master of Science in Biological Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1986.

At Viterbo, she developed her natural curiosity and learned how to ask questions with scientific integrity and honesty. “I had fantastic mentorship from Sr. LaVonne Abts and Dr. Linda Malick, two of my most treasured professors.”

After Adams moved to California to attend graduate school and live what she thought would be a life of science, sunshine, and glamour, she found her way back to the Midwest. “I was looking for people with the same value system, including honesty, integrity, hard work, morals, stewardship, and community.” Adams shared that she found a good fit with the Upjohn Co. in Kalamazoo, Mich., where she was a research scientist, working mostly in the areas of Type 2 Diabetes and cardiovascular diseases research, and then in nonclinical drug metabolism and topical pharmacokinetics of ophthalmic drugs.

After 16 years, she had to pivot when The Upjohn Co. site was taken over by another company and she was forced to find a new position. She landed in Indianapolis at Eli Lilly & Co. and finished her career there. In one role, she was a neuroscience project management advisor, where she and her team developed typical blood-based biomarkers and imaging techniques for Alzheimer’s disease and digital biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease. “Those were very exciting and humbling times.”

In other research scientist and project team lead or project manager roles at Eli Lilly, Adams worked with drug metabolism and disposition departments for diabetes and musculoskeletal disorders. In another role, her focus was on finding the right drug for the right patient at the right dose. “I provided project management support to biomarker/companion diagnostic projects in the areas of oncology, diabetes, and neuroscience.”

Adams and her husband retired to Northern Michigan, where in 2020, she started a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, Bass Lakes Area Environmental Partnership. “I wanted to control aquatic invasive species in the lake without the use of herbicides,” she explained.

Her organization provides education on the preservation of inland lakes and shoreline ecosystems and preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species. They solicit grants and donations to pay for educational programs to control the current aquatic invasive species infestation and conduct other charitable activities to promote Big Bass-Little Bass Lake stewardship to her Northern Michigan community.

Adams has earned the honor of Inventor with a U.S. Patent for Preservative-Free Ophthalmic Oxazolidinone Antibiotic Drug Delivery Systems with The Upjohn Co., in Kalamazoo, Mich.

She received the 2007 Lilly Research Laboratories President’s Recognition Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievements, with Eli Lilly & Co. Adams is the 2011 recipient of the John L. Emmerson Scientific Recognition Award, also with Eli Lilly & Co.

Adams would like current Viterbo students to know that they should pursue their dreams while working well with others. “Success can be measured in money and position, but happiness is measured in love and friendship.”

Adams and her husband Phil have two children. “The fact that I have a beautiful family, in addition to a career doing what I love, is truly a blessing.”

2024 Viterbo University Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients main page