Kent L. Thornburg

{{Small|Source}}{{Cite journal|last1=Heindel|first1=Jerrold J.|last2=Vandenberg|first2=Laura N.|date=April 2015|title=Developmental Origins of Health and Disease: A Paradigm for Understanding Disease Etiology and Prevention|journal=Current Opinion in Pediatrics|volume=27|issue=2|pages=248–253|doi=10.1097/MOP.0000000000000191|issn=1040-8703|pmc=4535724|pmid=25635586}}

Thornburg uses a broad range of scientific disciplines to investigate how maternal stressors before, during and after pregnancy affect the risk for the offspring acquiring chronic diseases later in life. This field of research is known as the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD). He was a friend and collaborator of Professor David Barker,{{Cite web|title=[In memoriam: David Barker, M.D., Ph.D., FRS] {{!}} OHSU|url=https://www.ohsu.edu/school-of-medicine/moore-institute/memoriam-david-barker-md-phd-frs|access-date=2020-07-20|website=www.ohsu.edu}} FRS,{{Cite web|title=Fellows {{!}} Royal Society|url=https://royalsociety.org/fellows/|access-date=2021-01-26|website=royalsociety.org|language=en-gb}} the English physician and epidemiologist who originated the Barker Hypothesis,{{Citation|last=Edwards|first=Matthew|title=The Barker Hypothesis|date=2017|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40007-5_71-1|work=Handbook of Famine, Starvation, and Nutrient Deprivation: From Biology to Policy|pages=1–21|editor-last=Preedy|editor-first=Victor|place=Cham|publisher=Springer International Publishing|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-40007-5_71-1|isbn=978-3-319-40007-5|s2cid=89646607 |access-date=2021-01-26|editor2-last=Patel|editor2-first=Vinood B.}} which proposed that the environmental, social, and nutritional conditions that an embryo, fetus and early infant is exposed to, determine their risk for acquiring chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis later in life. 

Thornburg's research includes cardiac and pulmonary{{Cite journal|last1=Barker|first1=David J. P.|last2=Thornburg|first2=Kent L.|last3=Osmond|first3=Clive|last4=Kajantie|first4=Eero|last5=Eriksson|first5=Johan G.|date=July 2010|title=The prenatal origins of lung cancer. II. The placenta|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20309992/|journal=American Journal of Human Biology |volume=22|issue=4|pages=512–516|doi=10.1002/ajhb.21041|issn=1520-6300|pmid=20309992|s2cid=13575075|via=}} (lung) physiology, placentology,{{Cite journal|last1=Thornburg|first1=Kent L.|last2=Marshall|first2=Nicole|date=2015-10-01|title=The placenta is the center of the chronic disease universe|journal=American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology|language=en|volume=213|issue=4, Supplement|pages=S14–S20|doi=10.1016/j.ajog.2015.08.030|pmid=26428494|pmc=4593619|issn=0002-9378|doi-access=free}} and developmental programming{{Cite journal|last1=Burton|first1=Graham J.|last2=Fowden|first2=Abigail L.|last3=Thornburg|first3=Kent L.|date=2016-09-07|title=Placental Origins of Chronic Disease|journal=Physiological Reviews|volume=96|issue=4|pages=1509–1565|doi=10.1152/physrev.00029.2015|issn=0031-9333|pmc=5504455|pmid=27604528}} - as well as epigenetics{{Cite web|title=How Portlanders Are Forging the Frontier of Epigenetics|url=https://www.pdxmonthly.com/health-and-wellness/2014/07/breaking-the-code-july-2014|access-date=2021-02-02|website=Portland Monthly|language=en-US}} and epidemiology. He studies the ways in which the fetus adapts to a variety of stressors during pregnancy, including psychosocial and nutritional stress. He also studies the roles that maternal obesity, preeclampsia and gestational diabetes play in placental and fetal growth. He collaborates with scientists in several countries, in rural Oregon and in Alaska.  

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1967: Bachelor of Arts in Biology (George Fox University){{Cite web|url=https://www.georgefox.edu/journalonline/summer16/feature/100-year-effect.html|title=The 100-Year Effect - Summer 2016 George Fox Journal|website=George Fox University}}

1970 and 1972: Master of Science in Zoology and Doctorate of Philosophy in Developmental Physiology and Embryology, (Oregon State University){{Cite web|title=Oregon State University|url=https://oregonstate.edu/|access-date=2020-07-20|website=oregonstate.edu}}

1971-1973: NIH Post-doctoral fellow, Cardiovascular Sciences, Department of Physiology (now Department of Chemical Physiology and Biochemistry,{{Cite web|title=Chemical Physiology and Biochemistry {{!}} OHSU|url=https://www.ohsu.edu/school-of-medicine/chemical-physiology-and-biochemistry|access-date=2020-07-20|website=www.ohsu.edu}} (Oregon Health and Science University){{Cite web|title=OHSU {{!}} Healing Begins with Discovery|url=https://www.ohsu.edu/|access-date=2020-07-20|website=www.ohsu.edu}}

1974: Postdoctoral Studies: Electron Microscopy and Physics, (Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis){{Cite web|title=Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis|url=https://medicine.wustl.edu/|access-date=2020-07-20|website=Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis|language=en}}

1989-1990: Sabbatical, Molecular Embryology (University of Manchester, UK){{Cite web|title=The University of Manchester|url=https://www.manchester.ac.uk/|access-date=2020-07-20|website=www.manchester.ac.uk}}

Thornburg is the M. Lowell Edwards{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=From fuel pump to heart valve, M. Lowell Edwards sought solutions |url=https://news.ohsu.edu/2011/02/14/from-fuel-pump-to-heart-valve-m-lowell-edwards-sought-solutions |access-date=2020-07-20 |website=OHSU News |language=en}} Endowed Chair for Cardiovascular Research and Professor of Medicine in the Knight Cardiovascular Institute{{Cite web|title=Knight Cardiovascular Institute {{!}} OHSU|url=https://www.ohsu.edu/knight-cardiovascular-institute|access-date=2020-07-20|website=www.ohsu.edu}} at OHSU. He holds joint professorships in the Departments of Chemical Physiology and Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine and Obstetrics, and Gynecology.

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• [https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Kent+L.+Thornburg&btnG= Kent L. Thornburg at Google Scholar]

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Category:American medical academics

Category:Oregon Health & Science University faculty

Category:1945 births

Category:Living people

Category:George Fox University alumni

Category:Oregon State University alumni

Category:Washington University in St. Louis fellows