Rate My Professor John Toscano

John P. Toscano is a professor of chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University’s Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. He earned a baccalaureate degree in chemistry from Princeton University in 1987, graduating magna cum laude, a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Yale University in 1993, and completed a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship in organic chemistry at Ohio State University. Toscano joined the Johns Hopkins University Department of Chemistry in 1995 as an assistant professor, advancing to full professor in 2003. He has held extensive leadership positions, serving as vice-chair of the department in 2004, chair from 2005 to 2011, 2013 to 2014, and 2021 to 2024, vice dean for natural sciences from 2014 to 2020, interim dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences from 2020 to 2021, and chair of the Center for Biotechnology Education in the Advanced Academic Programs division since 2021. His honors include the AT&T Bell Laboratories Ph.D. Scholar award, Richard Wolfgang Memorial Prize for distinguished graduate work in chemistry, Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award, National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, and the 2025 Maryland Chemist of the Year Award from the American Chemical Society Maryland Section.

Toscano’s research in organic chemistry and chemical biology centers on the chemistry and biology of small-molecule signaling agents, including nitric oxide, nitroxyl (HNO), hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), and hydropersulfides (RSSH). His group develops donors for these reactive species to investigate their physiological roles, cardioprotective effects, interactions in redox signaling, protein persulfidation, and protection against oxidative stress and ferroptosis. Key publications include “Esterase-Responsive Mitochondria-Targeted Hydropersulfide Donors Mitigate Doxorubicin Cardiotoxicity While Preserving Anticancer Activity” (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2026), “Arylsulfonothioates: Thiol-Activated Donors of Hydropersulfides Which Are Excreted to Maintain Cellular Redox Homeostasis or Retained to Counter Oxidative Stress” (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2025), “Development of Azoreductase-Activated Precursors for Efficient Hydropersulfide Release via 1,6-Elimination” (ACS Chem. Biol., 2025), and “Hydropersulfides (RSSH) Attenuate Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity While Boosting Its Anticancer Action” (Redox Biol., 2023; Redox Biology Paper of the Year). His work has significantly influenced understanding of reactive sulfur and nitrogen species in biological systems.