Dr. George Milne 1961 HGS, 2013 Distinguished Alumnus

On Friday, September 21, Hopkins was honored to welcome back Dr. George Milne 1961 HGS. Dr. Milne has been named the Hopkins 2013 Distinguished Alumnus, an honor given each year to a talented man or woman making outstanding contributions in their given professions or fields of endeavor. Dr. Milne is being recognized for his contributions in science, and his many years working at Pfizer in human and animal health research that applied to the development of several new drugs.

Dr. Milne began his visit by speaking at assembly. He shared with the students recollections of his Hopkins experience and how this led him on his career path into biochemistry and molecular biology. He talked of his experiences in the lab and out in the field, including expeditions into the rainforest to discover new medicines and pharmaceuticals. He urged the students to always be curious, and in thinking about their future, figure out what they are truly good at, what comes naturally, and these are the areas in which they will excel. Dr. Milne offered this advice, "My hope is that you'll look beyond your classwork, and see there are opportunities to contribute in many ways, whether in a career or for personal pleasure. A chance to exercise the gifts that come from exploration of curiosity, to be part of the excitement that comes from the creative assembly of new and divergent inputs. So keep an open and curious frame of mind, and I predict that one day you'll be pleasantly surprised, as I was, by where you've gotten to." Watch the full video of his assembly address in the attached video.

Throughout the morning, Dr. Milne visited science classes where students inquired about his research and they discussed as a group current developments in the science and health industries. After classes, a large group of students joined him with their science teachers for lunch in the Alumni/ae House. In all, it was a very engaging day, for students, faculty and Dr. Milne. We look forward to more visits from Dr. Milne throughout the year, as well as at Reunion on Saturday, June 15 where he will speak at the alumni/ae luncheon.

Some more information on Dr. Milne's career:

Dr. Milne graduated from Yale with a degree in chemistry in 1965. He received his PHD from MIT in organic chemistry and has done post-doctoral work at Stanford University and the Medical College of Virginia. Several years after joining Pfizer as a chemist, he had the opportunity to train in pharmacology as well. It was the perfect moment to experience the synergy of biochemistry and molecular biology as these tools were being applied to drug development. Eventually he had the chance to head up Pfizer’s entire global animal and human health research and development as the company became a leader in the industry. He retired from Pfizer as President, Worldwide Strategic Operations Management in 2002.

During his career he has been honored by Yale University, Connecticut College, Rotary International, CURE (Connecticut United for Research Excellence), Big Brothers/Big Sisters and others.

Since 2002, Dr. Milne has served as a Venture partner at Radius Partners and as a board member of companies whose products/activities range from laboratory instrumentation, clinical and drug discovery research, medical devices and diagnostics, stem cell and even what Draper Laboratories calls “vanishingly small systems”. He also has served on the board of the New York Botanic Garden and as President of the Board of Trustees, Mystic Aquarium.