A. Douglas Kinghorn, Ph.D., D.Sc.

Jack L. Beal Professor and Chair,
Division of Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacognosy

Parks Hall Room 446
500 West 12th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210

E-mail: kinghorn.4@osu.edu
Phone: 614) 247-8094

Medicinal Chemistry / Faculty and Research / A. Douglas Kinghorn

Education

D.Sc., University of London, 1990.
Ph.D., University of London, 1975.
M.Sc., University of Strathclyde, 1970.
B.Pharm., University of Bradford, 1969.

Research Interests: Natural Products

Since 2004, Dr. A. Douglas Kinghorn has been the inaugural Jack L. Beal Professor and Chair in Natural Products Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Formerly, he was Professor of Pharmacognosy, Assistant Head of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, and Associate Director of the Program for Collaborative Research in the Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has also served as Gastprofessor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland (sabbatical, 1990), and has also been Visiting Professor at the Universities of Salerno (Italy; September, 1996) and São Paulo (Brazil; May, 1997).

Dr. Kinghorn was educated in the United Kingdom, and received degrees from the Universities of Bradford [B. Pharm. (Special in Pharmacognosy), 1969], Strathclyde (M.Sc. in Forensic Science, 1970), and London [Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy, 1975; D.Sc. (earned higher doctorate) in Pharmacy, 1990]. He received postdoctoral training at the University of Mississippi (1975-1976) and at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC; 1976-1977), where he was appointed to the faculty of this latter institution in 1977 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1981 and to Professor in 1986. Dr. Kinghorn was also designated as the 1993 B. Kenneth West University Scholar (Senior University Scholar) by the University of Illinois Foundation and awarded the 2002-2003 UIC Award for Excellence in Teaching, the premier peer-reviewed campus teaching award for faculty members. He is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London (1985), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (1991), the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) (1996), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2006), and the American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) (2007). Dr. Kinghorn was designated as an Honorary Member of ASP in 2008. In 2006, he was named as a Fellow of The School of Pharmacy, University of London. Dr. Kinghorn has served as President of both the American Society of Pharmacognosy (1990-1991) and the Society for Economic Botany (1991-1992). Currently, he is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Natural Products (1994-2013; co-published by the American Chemical Society and the American Society of Pharmacognosy) and is Series Editor in Chief for the book series Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products (2008-present; published by Springer-Verlag, Vienna, Austria). In addition, Dr. Kinghorn serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards of about 15 other scientific publications in the fields of natural products, pharmacy, organic chemistry, and cancer. He is Chair of the Dietary Supplements – Botanicals Expert Committee and a Member of the Council of Experts of the United States Pharmacopeia (2005-2010). He was recently appointed as a Chartered Member of the Drug Discovery and Molecular Pharmacology (DMP) NIH Study Section, for the period 2009-2013.

The research interests of Dr. Kinghorn are on the isolation, characterization, and biological evaluation of natural products of higher plant origin, and he has worked in particular on compounds with potential oral antimicrobial, cancer chemotherapeutic, cancer chemopreventive, and sweet-tasting effects. Dr. Kinghorn is currently Principal Investigator of a collaborative multidisciplinary program project entitled “Discovery of Anticancer Agents of Diverse Natural Origin” (P01 CA125066), funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland (2007-2012). The primary objective of this project is to discover new natural product anticancer agents from tropical plants, aquatic cyanobacteria, and filamentous fungi.

Dr. Kinghorn has authored or co-authored over 440 research articles, book chapters, and reviews, and has edited or co-edited six books. He has presented research seminars and lectures at international and national scientific meetings in over 30 different countries. In 2001, he was named as a “Highly Cited Researcher” in Agricultural Sciences by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI), Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Kinghorn has been Major and/or Thesis Advisor for about 40 graduate students and has also directly supervised 60 postdoctorals and visiting scholars.

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Courses Taught

Pharmacy 694 (Group Studies in Pharmacy - Examining Prescription Drugs and Clinical Trials in the U.K.: an International Healthcare Experience in Pharmacy). Participation in a team-taught course on various facets of the pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy practice in the U.K., inclusive of a one-week stay in London. Spring Quarter (2008), 3 credit hours. B.S.P.S. and Pharm.D. students.
Pharmacy 711 (Pharmaceutical Biotechnology II): Products of biotechnology used as drugs, with an emphasis on antibiotics, anticancer agents, and other important natural drugs employed in disease therapy. Winter Quarter, 3 credit hours. Second-year Pharm.D. students.
Pharmacy 735 (Drug Discovery and Drug Design): A study of the discovery and design of new drugs; topics include natural products isolation, molecular modeling, molecular targets, and biosynthesis and metabolism. Spring Quarter, 3 credit hours. Ph.D. students.
Pharmacy 839 (Problem-Solving in Natural Products Chemistry): A survey of contemporary issues involving natural products research and their resolution, covering aspects of analytical chemistry, biological evaluation, isolation chemistry, microbial biotransformation, monograph development, and ethics. Spring Quarter, 2 credit hours, Ph.D. students.
Pharmacy 851 (Advanced Pharmacognosy): A study of research on compounds biosynthesized by plants of pharmaceutical interest. Spring Quarter, 3 credit hours. Ph.D. students.

Professional Experience

2004-present: Jack L. Beal Professor and Chair of Natural Products Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
1999-2004: Assistant to the Director, Research Resources Center, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
1995-2004: Assistant Head for Administration, Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL.
1992-2004: Associate Director, Program for Collaborative Research in the Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL.
1990 (April-August; Sabbatical): Gastprofessor, Department of Pharmacy, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland.
1986-2004: Professor of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL.
1981-1986: Associate Professor of Pharmacognosy (with Tenure), College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL.
1977-1981: Assistant Professor of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at the Medical Center, Chicago, IL
Research Associate, Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at the Medical Center, Chicago, IL.
1975-1976: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, MS.
1971-1975: Teaching Fellow, The School of Pharmacy, University of London,
London, U.K.
1970-1971: Analytical Chemist, Burrough’s Wellcome Co., Dartford, Kent, U.K.

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Editor-in-Chief

Journal of Natural Products

A. Douglas Kinghorn, Ph.D., D.Sc.

Education

Research Interests: Natural Products

Courses Taught

Professional Experience

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