Dr. Holden Thorp, Editor-in-Chief of Science, to be Olin’s 2025 Commencement Speaker

Dr. Holden Thorp, Editor-in-Chief of Science, will be the Olin College Commencement 2025 featured speaker. The ceremony will be held at the College’s campus on Friday, May 16, 2025, and will celebrate Olin’s 20th graduating class.

Portrait of Holden Thorp, Editor-in-Chief of Science

Dr. Holden Thorp, Editor-in-Chief of Science, will be the Olin College Commencement 2025 featured speaker.

Dr. Thorp became Editor-in-Chief of the Science family of journals on October 28, 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 at George Washington University and on leave to serve as the Editor-in-Chief at Science.

Dr. 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.

Dr. Thorp earned a Bachelor of Science from UNC, a doctorate in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and completed postdoctoral work at Yale University. He holds honorary degrees from 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. 

Dr. Thorp cofounded Viamet Pharmaceuticals, which developed VIVJOA (oteseconazole), now approved by the FDA and marketed by Mycovia Pharmaceuticals. He is a venture partner at Hatteras Venture Partners, a consultant to Ancora 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 Dr. Thorp to its STATUS list of top leaders in the life sciences.