Holden Thorp

Herbert Holden Thorp (born August 16, 1964) is an American chemist, professor and entrepreneur. He was the tenth chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, assuming the position on July 1, 2008, succeeding James 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 dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a Kenan Professor of chemistry at the university.

In September 2012, amid allegations of academic fraud within a university department, Thorp announced his intention to resign the University of North Carolina presidency and return to teaching. 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. He took over as provost on July 1, 2013, replacing Edward Macias. Thorp stepped down as the provost of Washington University in St. Louis on July 15, 2019.

On August 19, 2019, Thorp was announced as the new editor-in-chief of Science magazine. He continues to hold the Rita Levi-Montalcini Distinguished University Professorship of Chemistry in the Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine at Washington University.

In 2023, he became a Professor of Chemistry at George Washington University.

Early life and education Thorp's father, Herbert Holden "Herb" Thorp (d. 1996), was a native of Rocky Mount, North Carolina. 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, 1933—2022), a 1956 UNC graduate, was a native of Columbia, South Carolina. Her parents were Italian 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.

Thorp's parents moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1960 He attended St. Patrick Catholic School, a private middle school. His motivation for entering the competition was to earn money to buy jazz records. Winning the competition also earned him a trip to the national competition, which was shown on the television program That's Incredible!. He came fifth in the national competition and won first place again in a regional competition the following year, in Charlotte, North Carolina. He completed post-doctoral work with Gary Brudvig at Yale University in 1990.

In 1991, Thorp began teaching as an associate professor of chemistry at North Carolina State University. Later that year, he was one of 20 people awarded a grant by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation; the $500,000 fellowship was for research on compounds used in genetic therapy. Both grants were for research to develop cancer and AIDS drugs as alternatives to chemotherapy. Xanthon raised several rounds of venture capital, 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.

Thorp is a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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 2001, Thorp became the director of the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, 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 UNC Kenan–Flagler Business School in Qatar. 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 Tyson.

He became the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 2007, after a nationwide search.

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!, 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.

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 life Thorp has been married to Patti Worden since 1991.