The UT Health Sciences College of Pharmacy was proud to host Gunda I. Georg, PhD, the winner of the 2026 Duane D. Miller Lectureship on May 27, 2026.
About Gunda I. Georg, PhD, Regents Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Minnesota
Gunda Georg earned a B.S. in pharmacy and a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from Philipps Universität Marburg, Germany. After postdoctoral studies (University of Ottawa in Canada), she became a faculty member in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Kansas. In 2007, she joined the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Minnesota. At the University of Minnesota, she leads the Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development. She was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (2011-2020). She is an AAAS Fellow and an American Chemical Society Fellow. In 2017, she was elected to the Hall of Fame of the American Chemical Society’s Medicinal Chemistry Division. In 2020, she received the Alfred Burger Award in Medicinal Chemistry from the American Chemical Society and, in 2023, the Carl Mannich Medal from the German Pharmaceutical Society. Her research interests are medicinal chemistry, drug discovery, contraception, and cancer. She is the co-inventor of one marketed drug and three drugs in clinical trials. She has published 280 articles, has 13,797 citations, and an h-index of 62 (as of May 2026). She has trained over 100 students, postdocs, and visiting scientists.
2026 Duane D. Miller Student Awardee
We would also like to congratulate the 2026 Duane D. Miller Endowment Student Awardee, Kristiana Avad, PharmD, a graduate of the UT Health Sciences College of Pharmacy and a current PhD candidate in Krik Hevener, PhD, PharmD’s lab.
Dr. Georg’s presentation, “Discovery and development of a male pill by targeting the retinoid signaling pathway with YCT-529 for effective, reversible oral contraception,” examined the discovery and development of the first-in-class selective retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARα) antagonist, including preclinical studies of YCT-529, as well as findings from the Phase 1 clinical trial.
About the Duane. D. Miller Lectureship
The UTHSC College of Pharmacy Drug Discovery Center (UTCoP DDC) established the “Duane D. Miller Lectureship” and its related graduate student award, “The Duane D. Miller Award in Drug Discovery,” in 2023. This lectureship and student award honor Dr. Duane Miller, Professor Emeritus at UTCoP, for his exceptional and long-lasting impacts on the establishment of the Medicinal Chemistry programs in UTCoP in 1992 after more than 20 years of successful career at the Ohio State University, and his accomplishments in inventing several small-molecule investigational new drugs (e.g., Enobosarm, Sabizabulin) that have moved to advanced clinical trials.
- The annual Duane D. Miller Lectureship Award recognizes a small molecule drug discovery expert, with Dr. Miller being the inaugural awardee.
- The Duane D. Miller Award in Drug Discovery recognizes a graduate student for outstanding achievement in small molecule drug discovery and development research. The first named award for students in the UTCoP graduate program carries a monetary award, generously provided by Dr. Miller himself for the inaugural year 2023