This volume entitled 'The Role of Chemistry in the Evolution of Molecular Medicine' contains a collection of papers that form the proceedings of the Symposium held at the University of Szeged (27-29 June 2003). As well as covering developments in the field over the last 60 years, the proceedings of this Symposium has laid the foundations for the future of the field of molecular medicine. Contributors span a wide range of molecular science disciplines including mathematics, physics, computer science, chemistry, biochemistry, biology and medicine, and cover the whole territory in agreement with the legacy of Professor Albert Szent-Györgyi. This volume was particularly inspired by the booklet published in 1960 by Albert Szent-Györgyi under the title 'Introduction to submolecular biology', and the contents of this booklet have been included here in its entirety as an Appendix.