A. Douglas Kinghorn, PhD, DSc

Research Interest

Cancer ● Colonic Cancer ● Carcinoma, Hepatocellular

A. Douglas Kinghorn, PhD, DSc, is a member of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program at the OSUCCC – James, where his current research focuses on the discovery of new anticancer agents, primarily from tropical plants. He has worked in this area for approximately 40 years.

From 1992-2005, Dr. Kinghorn served as principal investigator for a National Cooperative Drug Discovery/Development Group project (U01/U19 CA52956), funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute, to identify novel strategies for plant-derived anticancer agents. This work resulted in the emergence of several outstanding compound leads, including betulinic acid, pervilleine A and silvestrol.

Dr. Kinghorn is currently Principal Investigator of a collaborative multidisciplinary program project entitled “Discovery of Anticancer Agents of Diverse Natural Origin” (P01 CA125066), again funded by the NCI. The primary objective of this project is to discover new natural product anticancer agents from tropical plants, coastal lichens, aquatic cyanobacteria and filamentous fungi. Dr. Kinghorn's other research interests include the investigation of botanical dietary supplements and edible plants for their potential cancer chemopreventive principles, the search for new sweeteners and taste-modifying agents from plants, and the investigation of plant principles for the treatment of tropical infectious diseases.

Dr. Kinghorn has authored or co-authored over 420 peer-reviewed research articles that have appeared in such well-respected publications as Cancer Research, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Neuro-Oncology, Leukemia and Science . He has also served as Editor in Chief of the Journal of Natural Products since 1994 and Book Series Editor in Chief of Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products (Springer International) since 2008.