Arnold Shaefer (1917-1992) was a nutrition scientist noted for his contributions to the study of folic acid. As an undergraduate at North Dakota State he studied selenium toxicity under Moxon, co-authoring 3 papers in 1938. Then he received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1947. From 1947-1951, Shaefer made important contributions to the understanding of the role of folic acid and vitamin B-12. He was the Head of the Nutrition Research Department at the Squibb Institute for Medical Research (1951-1955); Executive Director of the ICNND (1955-1965); Head of the Nutrition Section of the Office of International Research at the NIH (1965-1967); Director of the Ten State Nutrition Survey (1969); nutrition consultant for the Pan American Health Organization (1970-1973); Lydia Roberts Lectureship at the University of Puerto Rico (1970); and Director of the Swanson Center for Nutrition Professor of Clinical Nutrition and Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (1973-1983). He also served as Secretary (1960) and President (1966) of the American Institute of Nutrition; President of FASEB (1968); Fellow at the Institute of Nutrition (1985); and Fellow at the American Public Health Association. He received the Conrad A. Elvehjem Award from the AIN in 1976.