Anthony D. Wright

Tony came to the College of Pharmacy at the Univeristy of Hawaii at Hilo in mid-2007 as Foundation Chair of the College's Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (2007-2010), he then took on the post as Chair of the College's PhD Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences Planning Committee (2009-2010) and subsequently became the Foundation Director of the College's PhD Program (2011-2012). With these administrative duties behind him he is now enjoying being an Associate Professor and regular faculty member in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He is a world leader in marine natural products drugs discovery and a recognised expert in the area of structure elucidation using NMR. His academic career spanning over 30 years, including an interlude as a high school teacher of Mathematics, Chemistry and Physical Education, has been spent searching the natural world, mainly its oceans, for the chemical treasures it has to offer. His research group discovered the first compounds from the marine environment to have selective antimalarial activity and were also the first to isolate endophytic fungi from marine algae. His group was at the forefront in developing new methodologies for solving chemical structures of various natural products an area where they are still active. Here in Hawaii, Tony, his PhD student (Kehau Hagiwara), Post Doc (Dovi Kelman), seniors in marine biology, various volunteers, in particular Dr. Russ Molyneux and Nicole Tabandera, and collaborators (Dr. Karla McDermid) are looking into the natural products chemistry and biological activity of niche macro- and micro-organisms found on the Big Island of Hawaii, Guam and various other locations around the world, as well as at chemical and ecological issues related to tea and cocoa production, both important economic crops for Hawaii.