Christopher Spilling

Dr. Spilling is Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Research, Dean of the Graduate School, and a professor of chemistry at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He received his B.Sc. (Hons.) and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Technology in Loughborough, England. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University before joining the UMSL faculty in 1989. He was promoted to associate professor in 1995 and professor in 2001. He served as the chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry from 2004-2015 and the chair of the Faculty Senate and University Assembly from 2012-2014. 

During his twenty-six-plus years at UMSL, Spilling returned briefly to the UK for a one-year sabbatical leave at Cambridge University (1996), working in association with Professor S. V.  Ley. Spilling is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC), the American Chemical Society, and the National Academy of Inventors. He has published over eighty peer-reviewed research papers and is a named inventor on ten issued patents and published patent applications. He was the recipient of the 2009 St. Louis Award for Chemistry (ACS), the 2009 UM President’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the 2015 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Service. 

In 2006, he co-founded Alkymos with Wesley Harris (UMSL), Robert Yokel (University of Kentucky), Robert Kuhn (UK), and Chang-Guo Zhan (UK). Spilling currently maintains an active, funded research program. His research involves the design of catalysts for asymmetric phosphorylation, chemistry of hydroxy phosphonates, synthesis of metal chelators, natural products and enzyme inhibitors with applications in the treatment of tuberculosis, sepsis, and malaria. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Research, Technology, and Entrepreneurial Expertise (Cortex) and the Center for Emerging Technologies (CET).