I’m posting here 1-2 times per month. Thanks for signing up, will try to keep ‘em coming. As usual, this is an opinion column, and the views expressed here are not necessarily those of AAAS. My email at Science is hthorp@aaas.org and personal is holdenthorp@gmail.com.
Here’s the official bio for introductions (cut freely!):
Holden Thorp became Editor-in-Chief of the Science family of journals in October 2019. He came to Science from Washington University, where he was provost from 2013 to 2019 and professor from 2013 to 2023. He is currently a professor of chemistry and medicine at George Washington University and on leave to serve as the Editor-in-Chief at Science.
Thorp joined Washington University after spending three decades at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), where he served as the 10th chancellor from 2008 through 2013.
Thorp earned a bachelor of science degree from UNC, a doctorate in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, and completed postdoctoral work at Yale University. He holds honorary degrees from the Olin College of Engineering, Hofstra University, and North Carolina Wesleyan College and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Thorp cofounded Viamet Pharmaceuticals, which developed VIVJOA (oteseconazole), now approved by the FDA and marketed by Mycovia Pharmaceuticals. Thorp is a venture partner at Hatteras Venture Partners, a consultant to Ancora, Huron, and Urban Impact Advisors, and is on the board of directors of PBS and Saint Louis University. He serves on the scientific advisory boards of the Yale School of Medicine and the Underwriters’ Laboratories Research Institutes. In 2023, STAT named Thorp to its STATUS list of top leaders in the life sciences. In 2025, he was given the Donald A. B. Lindberg Award for Distinguished Health Communications by the Friends of the National Library of Medicine.
Headshot for intro here:
Here’s the funner bio:
I’m the Editor-in-Chief of Science
I already have an amazing platform as the Editor-in-Chief of Science where I write an editorial roughly every other week and have an editor’s blog (the blog is reposted here on Substack, also). Those are my main places, but I also post here about science, higher education, science policy, and science communication. I have many other interests, including jazz, session musicians, mental health, central FL, theater, college sports, and who knows what else. I post on Bluesky, LinkedIn, and occasionally on Facebook. All the links are on my Substack bio. I’ll never have a Substack that you have to pay for since my primary obligation when it comes to content is to produce material for Science and the other journals. Here’s my bio if you want all the details and business relationships.
Subscribe if you want to read my musings
I try to make things amusing. To give you a flavor - here’s me at age 16 with my awesome Kustom guitar amp that I never should have sold. It’s very similar to the one John Fogerty used with Creedence that is very prominent in the recent Netflix doc. Sounded amazing when you turned it all the way up. The record I’m holding is Wired by Jeff Beck. I eventually figured out I would never play like him and switched to bass.
And here’s me with the Captain of the Starship Enterprise.
And here’s the intro to an episode of Frasier where my name was used for a character who doesn’t agree with me about politics:
You get the picture. Click the subscribe button if you want to see if I come up with anything.
