Gunda Georg Named Regents Professor

Gunda Georg, PhD, has been appointed a Regents Professor of the University of Minnesota. The Regents Professorship is the highest honor the University bestows on its faculty. It recognizes faculty who have made exceptional contributions to the University through teaching, research, scholarship, or creative work, and contributions to the public good.

Georg is professor and head of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, director of the Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development, and the Robert Vince Endowed Chair and McKnight Presidential Chair.

"I was very surprised to get a call from President Kaler. I knew I had been nominated but there are many deserving faculty at the University of Minnesota that I thought that my chances were remote to be named a Regent Professor," said Georg. "However, I am extremely pleased to have been selected. It is an honor to be part of the Regents Professors group. I am very grateful that Dean Welage, Dean Emeritus Speedie, Associate Dean El-Fakahany, my University of Minnesota colleagues and my peers in other institutions supported my nomination. I owe a great deal of gratitude to the members of my research group, my department and the Institute for Therapeutics and Discovery for their support."

A world-renowned medicinal chemist, Georg's research goals are to discover and develop bioactive compounds and to improve their potency, selectivity and pharmaceutical properties. Her research interests include cancer, male contraception and Alzheimer's disease. She is the co-editor-in-chief of theJournal of Medicinal Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, and in 2017 was inducted into the Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry of the American Chemical Society.