A. Douglas Kinghorn,  professor and Jack L. Beal Chair in the College of Pharmacy at Ohio State University, will present the fourth annual David Chu Lecture at 4 p.m. April 10.

Kinghorn will speak on “The Enduring Contribution of Natural Products to the Pharmaceutical Sciences.”

The lecture honors David C.K. Chu, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Georgia. Chu received a PhD in medicinal chemistry in 1975 from the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, mentored by the late Thomas J. Bardos.

Chu and his wife, Jane, who received her MS in medicinal chemistry from UB’s pharmacy school, established the David Chu Lectureship in 2011 to give back to their alma mater. It is one of several initiatives the couple and their daughters, Susan and Jackie, hope to fund through their recently created Chu Family Foundation.

Kinghorn received PhD (1975) and DSc (1990) degrees from the School of Pharmacy, University of London. From 1977-2004, he was a faculty member at the College of Pharmacy University of Illinois at Chicago.

He is a fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (London), the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and of the School of Pharmacy, University College London. He received the 2010 Norman R. Farnsworth Research Achievement Award of the American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) for lifetime contributions to natural products research.

Kinghorn has authored or co-authored over 500 peer-reviewed research articles, review articles, and book chapters. His research interests are the isolation and structural characterization of bioactive natural products from higher plants, particularly potential anticancer agents, cancer chemo-preventives and taste-modifying substances.