Tyler Distinguished Lecturers

The Varro E. Tyler Distinguished Lectureship was established in honor of Dr. Tyler to recognize his many contributions to the development of the professional and research programs in the College of Pharmacy during his 20 years tenure as Dean (1968-1988). The next lecture will be held on November 1, 2017. 

2016 Varro E. Tyler Distinguished Lecturer
 

Gunda I. Georg, PhD

Professor and Head, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Robert Vince Endowed Chair
McKnight Presidential Chair
Director, Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development
College of Pharmacy
University of Minnesota

"Recent Drug Discovery Progress for Non-Hormonal Male Contraception"

November 4, 2016
10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
College of Pharmacy, RHPH 172
Purdue University

You may view a recording of the lecture here.

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Dr. Gunda Georg is Professor and Head of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and the founding Director of the Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development (ITDD) at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy. She holds the Robert Vince Endowed Chair and the McKnight Presidential Chair in Medicinal Chemistry. She is the Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. She is a Fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, and has received the Ernest H. Volwiler Research Achievement Award of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the Sato Memorial International Award of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, the University of Minnesota Academy for Excellence in Health Research, and others.

Dr. Georg received her BS in Pharmacy (1975) and PhD in Medicinal Chemistry (1980) from Philipps University in Marburg, Germany. She was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Ottawa in Canada. After 22 years as a faculty member at the University of Kansas, she joined the University of Minnesota in 2007. Her research focuses on the design, synthesis, and evaluation of biologically active agents. Current major therapeutic areas are focused on male and female non-hormonal contraception, cancer, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease. These projects require the development of synthetic methods, semi-synthesis and total synthesis of natural products, structure-activity studies, and structure-based drug design aimed at improving the therapeutic efficacy of lead compounds, including natural products, and hits from high throughput or fragments screening. She currently leads a National Institutes of Health (NIH) research contract (2013-2018) and NIH-supported U01 research program (2012-2017) to discover non-hormonal contraceptive agents. These projects involve the collaboration with nine research groups across the country. At the University of Kansas she was the principal investigator of a state-wide NIH-funded Center for Cancer Experimental Therapeutics (Center of Biomedical Research Excellence = COBRE) with a focus on supporting and mentoring junior faculty members. Dr. Georg’s work is described in over 200 publications. She has trained more than 100 doctoral and post-doctoral students, most of whom have pursued careers in the pharmaceutical industry. She is actively involved in professional organizations including the American Chemical Society and the AAAS. She has served for many years as grant reviewer on NIH study sections, for the NSF, AAAS, foundations, and universities. She is a member of advisory boards for several scientific journals.

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