Holden Thorp
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Herbert Holden Thorp (born August 16, 1964) is an American
chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
,
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
and
entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
. He was the tenth
chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
, assuming the position on July 1, 2008, succeeding
James Moeser James Charles Moeser (born April 3, 1939) is a musician and university administrator who served as the ninth chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a trained concert organist. A native of Colorado City, Texas, Moeser ...
, and, at age 43, was noted as being among the youngest leaders of a university in the United States. At the time of his selection as chancellor, Thorp was the
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of the College of Arts and Sciences and a Kenan Professor of chemistry at the university. Thorp is a 1986 graduate of UNC; he later earned a
Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
in chemistry from
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
, and was a postdoctoral associate at
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
. In September 2012, Thorp announced his intention to resign effective from June 30, 2013, and to return to teaching in the Chemistry Department at UNC, following a scandal involving the NCAA. Shortly thereafter, in February 2013, he announced his decision to leave the university to take up the job of provost at
Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...
. He took over as provost on July 1, 2013, replacing Edward Macias. Thorp left Washington University in St. Louis on July 15, 2019. On August 19, 2019, Thorp was announced as the new editor-in-chief of ''
Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
'' magazine.


Early life and education

Thorp's father, Herbert Holden "Herb" Thorp (d. 1996), was a native of
Rocky Mount, North Carolina Rocky Mount is a city in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, Edgecombe and Nash County, North Carolina, Nash counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The city's population was 54,341 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it ...
. He was an attorney who earned an undergraduate degree from UNC in 1954 and a law degree - also from UNC - in 1956. His mother, Olga "Bo" Thorp (''née'' Bernardin, b. 1933), a 1956 UNC graduate, is a native of
Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...
. Her parents were
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
immigrants who died when she was 15. Both of Thorp's parents were involved in creating Fayetteville Little Theater, now known as the Cape Fear Regional Theater, in 1962. Herb Thorp was its first president, and Bo Thorp was its creative director for 50 years until stepping down in April 2012. Thorp's parents moved to
Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...
, in 1960 and Thorp was born there on August 16, 1964. He spent much of his youth involved with the theater, performing in productions led by his mother, and met his future wife, Patti Worden, in 1974 at the theater. He attended St. Patrick Catholic School, a
private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...
. He is remembered as a good student who finished the algebra textbook by Thanksgiving, and a geometry book the following Easter. In summer 1981, at age 17, while studying
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
at
Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...
in Boston, Thorp won first place and a $500 prize in a northeast regional competition to solve a
Rubik's Cube The Rubik's Cube is a Three-dimensional space, 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarians, Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik t ...
puzzle. His motivation for entering the competition was to earn money to buy
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. Winning the competition also earned him a trip to the national competition, which was shown on the television program ''
That's Incredible! ''That's Incredible!'' is an American reality television show that aired on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network from 1980 in television, 1980 to 1984 in television, 1984. In the tradition of ''You Asked for It'', ''List of ...
''. He came fifth in the national competition, and won first place again in a regional competition the following year, in
Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
. After graduating from
Terry Sanford High School Terry Sanford High School (formerly known as Fayetteville Senior High School) is a public high school in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It is named after Terry Sanford, who was a North Carolina state senator, Governor of North Carolina, and Unite ...
in 1982, Thorp attended the only university he had applied to, the University of North Carolina. He was a
pre-medical Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med course ...
student initially, and later turned to chemistry and academia, earning a BS degree in 1986. He completed doctoral work in three years instead of the normal five at the
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
in 1989, earning a
Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
under
Harry B. Gray Harry Barkus Gray (born November 14, 1935) is the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry at California Institute of Technology. Career Gray received his B.S. in chemistry from Western Kentucky University in 1957. He began his work in inorgan ...
at the age of 24. He completed post-doctoral work with Gary Brudvig at
Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
in 1990. In 1991, Thorp began teaching as an associate professor of chemistry at
North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...
.


Research and entrepreneurship

Thorp was awarded a
Presidential Young Investigator Award The Presidential Young Investigator Award (PYI) was awarded by the National Science Foundation of the United States Federal Government. The program operated from 1984 to 1991, and was replaced by the NSF Young Investigator (NYI) Awards and Presiden ...
in 1991 by the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
, which provided $100,000 of research funding annually for five years. Later that year, he was one of 20 people awarded a grant by the
David and Lucile Packard Foundation The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private foundation that provides grants to not-for-profit organizations. It was created in 1964 by David Packard (co-founder of HP) and his wife Lucile Salter Packard. Following David Packard's death ...
- the $500,000 fellowship was for research on compounds used in genetic therapy. Both grants were for research to develop
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
and
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
drugs as alternatives to
chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...
. In 1996, Thorp co-founded the
biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...
company Alderaan Diagnostics, later renamed Xanthon, Inc., to commercialize a technology he co-developed. The technology involved using electricity to test compounds that could later become new drugs. It was intended to turn a process that previously took months into an electronic process that would instead take hours. In 2001, Thorp was recognized by ''
Fortune Small Business ''Fortune Small Business'' (''FSB'') was an American magazine published 10 times per year from 1991 to 2009. It was a joint venture by The Fortune Group at Time Inc. and the American Express Small Business Services. It was delivered to 1 million ...
'' as a Small Business Innovator for the work that led to the founding of the company. Xanthon raised several rounds of
venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...
, totaling $25 million, before closing in 2002, after technical glitches had delayed release of its commercial product and it could not find further funding. In 2005, Thorp co-founded Viamet Pharmaceuticals, another biotechnology company, to develop treatments for cancer and other diseases. It raised $4 million in venture capital funding in 2007, and an additional $18 million in 2009. He is no longer involved in the operation of the company. Thorp is a member of the scientific advisory board of Ohmx, a biotechnology firm based on technology developed by his doctoral mentor, Harry B. Gray. He was previously a venture partner at Hatteras Venture Partners, co-founded by his brother Clay. He gave up that role after being named chancellor of UNC in 2008, and his equity stake in the firm was transferred to a
blind trust A blind trust is a trust in which the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust, and no right to intervene in their handling. In a blind trust, the trustees (fiduciaries, or those who have been given power of attorney) h ...
. Thorp is a member of the
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center is a cancer research and treatment center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. One of 52 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the United States, its clini ...
.


University of North Carolina

Thorp returned to his ''alma mater'' in 1993 to teach, rising from visiting assistant professor to professor in six years. In 1998, he received a Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. In 2001, Thorp became the director of the
Morehead Planetarium Morehead Planetarium and Science Center is located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a unit of the university, Morehead receives about one-third of its funding through state sources, one-third through ticket and g ...
, part of UNC. That fall, he co-led a student focus group responsible for exploring and providing feedback on the university's consideration of a branch campus of the Kenan–Flagler Business School in
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. In 2005, he was named a Kenan Professor and chair of the chemistry department of the College of Arts and Sciences. He led the 2005 committee that selected the book as recommended reading for that fall's incoming freshmen, '' Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story'', by a North Carolina native Timothy B. Tyson. He became the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 2007, after a nationwide search. A year later, he was named chancellor of the University after being nominated by
Erskine Bowles Erskine Boyce Bowles (born August 8, 1945) is an American businessman and political figure from North Carolina. He served from 2005 to 2010 as the president of the University of North Carolina system. In 1997–98 he served as White House Chi ...
, president of the
University of North Carolina System The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sys ...
, and unanimously chosen by the Board of Governors. In 2013, Thorp resigned from the position of chancellor amid allegations of widespread academic fraud, which were later outlined in the Wainstein Report. The Wainstein Report describes the findings of an independent investigation conducted by the former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein. It describes abuses spanning over 18 years, which included “no-show” classes that had little to no faculty oversight. Approximately half of those enrolled in these classes were athletes.


Music

Beginning with his first theater appearance at age 3 in ''
Carnival! ''Carnival'' is a musical, originally produced by David Merrick on Broadway in 1961, with the book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill. The musical is based on the 1953 film ''Lili'', which again was based on the short story ...
'', Thorp has been involved with many aspects of performance. He worked in lighting for productions at the theater company directed by his mother and later took on the music. He took piano and guitar lessons and formed a garage band as a teenager. While doing post-doctoral work, he wrote some music for the Yale Cabaret and a musical production for the River Renaissance on the
Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River (North Carol ...
. He has written several musicals and has played piano with his local church. He has also played with Equinox, a local jazz band. In 1998, Thorp was the musical director for a performance of ''
The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...
'', in which his wife played
Maria von Trapp Baroness Maria Augusta von Trapp DHS (; 26 January 1905 – 28 March 1987) was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. She wrote ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers'', which was published in 1949 and was the inspiratio ...
, and as a result, missed the ceremony at which the Tanner award recipients were recognized.


Awards and publications

Thorp was named a Distinguished Young Alumnus in 2002 by the UNC General Alumni Association. In 2010, Thorp and Buck Goldstein wrote a book on entrepreneurship called ''Engines of Innovation'', in which they insist that the world's biggest problems can be solved through innovation at large research universities. They also created a website to encourage innovation on college campuses.


Personal

Thorp has been married to Patti Worden since 1991. They have two children.


References


External links


UNC Office of the Chancellor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorp, Holden 1964 births 21st-century American chemists Living people Leaders of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill People from Fayetteville, North Carolina University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni People from Chapel Hill, North Carolina California Institute of Technology alumni North Carolina State University faculty University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty Washington University in St. Louis faculty Yale University fellows