UNC picks Thorp to be chancellor

Holden Thorp, an acclaimed chemistry professor and dean at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who also has made his mark with several businesses, will be the next UNC chancellor.

Thorp, chair of the department of chemistry and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, formally was announced as the new chancellor Thursday. He will take over July 1 for James Moeser, who will retire June 30 after serving as chancellor since 2000.

Thorp graduated from UNC in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and received his doctorate from the California Institute of Technology in 1989.

Content Continues Below

He joined UNC as an assistant professor of chemistry in 1993. From 2001 to 2004, Thorp served as director of UNC's Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

Thorp also has been involved with a number of companies, including a few based in the Triangle. His latest venture is Viamet Pharmaceuticals, a small Durham drug discovery company founded in 2005 thatraised $4 million in venture capitallast year. Thorp also is a partner with Durham-based venture capital firm Hatteras Venture Partners, according to the firm's Web site.

Prior to Viamet, Thorp was involved in Novalon, a Durham company that wassold for about $106 millionto Sweden's Karo Bio in 2000.

Thorp also was a co-founder of Xanthon, a company launched in 1996 that tried to commercialize a gene-based screening technology Thorp developed at UNC. The company raised $25 million in venture capital, grew to as many as 50 employees and announced plans in 2000 to double in size to 100 employees.

But technical glitches derailed what would have been the company's first product, a drug discovery tool, and company officials were unable to raise additional money. In 2002,Xanthon shut down.

Companies not based in the Triangle with which Thorp has worked include Osmetech, OhmX, and MaxCyte.

The hiring of a man with such a strong scientific background as chancellor is a symbol of sorts for Carolina.

UNC has hired people with liberal arts backgrounds as its last few chancellors. Moeser is a musician; his predecessor, Michael Hooker, was a philosopher.

In the past several years, however, the university has placed an increasingly strong emphasis on research - most notably in its desire to build a satellite campus, known as Carolina North, that will serve largely as a technology and business park.