Dr. Christina Gavegnano: Professor, Drug Discovery Innovator

Dr. Christina Gavegnano is an Assistant Professor in the Emory School of Medicine and a Visiting Associate Professor in the Emory College of Arts and Sciences. As an Emory graduate student, Dr. Gavegnano made a discovery that is now contributing to a potential cure for HIV-1.

During the pandemic, Dr. Gavegnano developed a first-line COVID-19 treatment. When the royalty money came in, she decided to use it, along with her own savings, to fund the Gavegnano Drug Discovery Program (GDDP), a lab at Emory just for undergraduate students. The GDDP gives students hands-on research experience and a chance to participate in laboratory discovery, human trial design, and real-time collaborations with the FDA and pharmaceutical companies. 

In this episode, recorded in fall 2024, Emory University President Gregory L. Fenves talks with Dr. Gavegnano about her life-saving research and how she is supporting a new generation of drug discoverers