David J. Kroll, PhD
Fellow
Durham, North Carolina, USA
David J. Kroll, PhD, is a biomedical educator and natural products cancer pharmacologist focusing on the discovery of novel compounds from diverse natural sources, including botanical dietary supplements. He is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at North Carolina Central University. He is also guest faculty and graduate advisory board member for the MS program in Science and Medical Journalism at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr Kroll holds a BS in Toxicology and a PhD in Pharmacology & Therapeutics. He launched his independent academic research program, supported by the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society, by studying the mechanisms of chemotherapeutic drug resistance. As more than half of anticancer drugs are derived from plants, microbes, or marine organisms, Dr Kroll has always held high regard for nature as a source of chemical diversity in the discovery of drugs for a variety of therapeutic areas and worked at one point with the co-discoverers of Taxol (paclitaxel). In 1995, historical curiosity and his role as a pharmacology professor led him to develop educational modules on the truth and fiction behind herbal remedies and non-botanical supplements. Public demand for such objective information has occasioned Dr Kroll becoming widely sought by print and broadcast media as a reliable source on the quality of supplements and for identifying misinformation about them.
Dr Kroll is currently funded by the NIH National Cancer Institute for research to identify and characterize anticancer and chemopreventive pure compounds from milk thistle (Silybum marianum). He also serves on the NCI’s Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine Physician’s Data Query Editorial Board.
Selected Book:
Selected Publications:
- “Milk Thistle” (with E Ladas & KM Kelly), in PM Coates, MR Blackman, GM Cragg, M Levine, J Moss & JD White, eds., Encyclopedia of Dietary Supplements (Marcel Dekker, 2005):467-482.
- "Concerns and Needs for Research in Herbal Supplement Pharmacotherapy and Safety," Journal of Herbal Pharmacotherapy, 2001 (1)2: 3-23.
Selected Blogging:
- “The current phenomenon of ‘bloggers’ should be of serious concern to scientists,” Terra Sigillata, Central Science, 2010 Oct 15.
- “Yes, drug companies do pay attention to herbal medicine,” Science-Based Medicine, 2010 Sep 3.
- “Can it get any worse? Industrial bleach as cancer and HIV cure,” Science-Based Medicine, 2010 Aug 6.
- “Why is there so much medical misinformation in The Huffington Post?” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2010 July 15.
- “Natural is not innocuous: the case of Angel’s Trumpet and tropane alkaloid intoxication,” Science-Based Medicine, 2010 Jul 9.
- “James Ray and testosterone replacement therapy (TRT),” Science-Based Medicine, 2010 Jan 8.
- “Ontario naturopathic prescribing proposal is bad medicine,” Science-Based Medicine, 2009 Nov 27.
- “Naturopathy drug prescribing proposal in Ontario: Rx for a liability nightmare,” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2009 Nov 26.
- “The detox delusion: kudos to Duke integrative medicine nutritionist,” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2009 Nov 8.
- “The effective wordsmithing of Amy Wallace,” Science-Based Medicine, 2009 Oct 27.
- “Is artemisinin really behind this case of hepatic toxicity?” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2009 Aug 17.
- “Locopops solves DSHEA dietary supplement labeling issue,” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2009 Jul 26.
- “Michael Jackson: Cherilyn Lee, Diprivan® (propofol), and Myers’ Cocktail,” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2009 Jul 1.
- "Cosmetic Acupuncture – seriously?” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2009 Jun 25.
- “Who is AP’s Marilynn Marchione and why is she doing such a terrific job exposing alternative medicine dangers and deception?” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2009 Jun 9.
- “Why we tolerate ‘mystical mumbo jumbo’ in academic medicine,” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2009 Jun 8.
- “Commercial deception: undeclared drugs in herbs and other dietary supplements,” Science-Based Medicine, 2009 Apr 14.
- “NCCAM is a victim of its own history,” Science-Based Medicine, 2009 Mar 7.
- “What Harkin et al. don’t understand: NIH ICs are scientific, not advocacy, organizations,” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2009 Mar 5.
- “University of the Sciences in Philadelphia justification for scientific honor of homeopathic leader, John A. Borneman, III,” Science-Based Medicine, 2009 Feb 3.
- “Lesson 1: homeopathy is NOT herbal medicine,” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2009 Jan 28.
- “Historic College of Pharmacy to honor homeopathy leader,” Science-Based Medicine, 2009 Jan 26.
- “Why we don’t prescribe bark for cancer,” Science-Based Medicine, 2008 Nov 4.
- “A natural product of his environment,” Science-Based Medicine, 2008 Oct 14.
- “Blue Steel Hero,” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2008 Mar 26.
- “Male dietary supplement for bodybuilding and sexual performance associated with metastatic prostate cancer cases,” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2008 Jan 28.
- “FDA seeks comments on regulating ‘CAM products’,” Terra Sigillata, Science Blogs, 2007 May 1.
- "Questions for makers on defects in drugs," by Natasha Singer, The New York Times, 2010 May 27.
- "Herbal supplement warning," Aphrodite Women's Health, 2002 Sep 23.
The Online David Kroll:
