Reginald Mills

L. Reginal Mills is the Drs. Yao and Song Endowed Professor of Chemistry at the University of Houston. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Reggie completed his B.Sc. with High Distinction at the University of Toronto in 2015, with a double-major in Biochemistry and Human Biology and a minor in Philosophy.

Reggie began his Ph.D. in 2015 at the University of Toronto as NSERC PGS-D graduate fellow in the lab of Professor Sophie Rousseaux, developing new synthetic transformations of cyclopropanols and nitriles, including nickel-catalyzed methods. Reggie was awarded his Ph.D. in 2020 for his thesis entitled “New Strategies for C–O and C–C Functionalization in the Contexts of Cyclopropanol Chemistry, Transnitrilation, and Ni Catalysis,” which received the 2021 Chemistry Department Chair’s Doctoral Medal and the 2022 Canadian Council of University Chemistry Chairs (CCUCC) Chemistry Doctoral Award.

From 2021–2024, Reggie worked as a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University in the lab of Professor Paul Chirik, where he developed new Cobalt and Nickel catalysts for C(sp²)–C(sp³) Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling relevant to the synthesis of TLR 7/8/9 antagonist Afimetoran, in collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb. In 2024, he began his independent career as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Houston, where his lab develops new Earth-abundant first-row metal catalysts for synthesis.