Dr. Ronald W. Hart was born in Syracuse, New York. He received his Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from the University of Illinois in 1971. He assumed the post of assistant professor at The Ohio State University in 1971, becoming a full regents professor in 1978. In 1980, he was named director of the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) and in 1992, became the first person in the eighty year history of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be named "distinguished scientist in residence".

Dr. Hart is an internationally recognized scientist and scholar, serving on the editorial boards of more than a dozen professional journals, author or co-author of over 450 scientific publications, and editor of six scientific volumes. Dr. Hart is credited with developing the first direct proof that DNA damage is causal in sunlight-induced cancer. He is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in aging, and his studies on nutrition and health. As a result of his contributions to science, Dr. Hart has received over two dozen national and international awards and recognitions including the Karl-August-Forester-Preis of the German Academy of Sciences and Literature, been appointed to the post of distinguished professor at a number of universities including: Cairo University, Seoul National University and Guangzhou University and has been elected a fellow of the Hudson Institute, Gerontological Society, American College of Toxicology (where he served as president in 1981), American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Association of Clinical Scientists and has been featured in at least one popularized book. In addition, the application of knowledge to industry is of great importance to him as exemplified by his patents on biomedical monitors.

Dr. Hart is an innovator and dynamic manager. At The Ohio State University, he founded and managed what became one of the largest, internationally recognized research complexes in that institution's history with competitive research grants totalling over $7 million. At NCTR Dr. Hart employed innovative management methods which decreased overhead expenses by over forty percent. The total quality management precepts he developed and instituted not only increased NCTR output by over four hundred percent, but also enhanced that institution's credibility and recognition in the scientific community. As a result of his innovative management initiatives, Dr. Hart has received a number of awards including a Presidential citation. An additional endorsement of Dr. Hart's management abilities has come from the private sector where he serves or has served on the board of directors of various publicly traded corporations.

Dr. Hart is also widely recognized and respected as a visionary. He was co-founder and first chairman of the board of directors, of the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority in 1984, an author of the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986, creator of the National Biotec Cooperative concept which was to serve as a model for conversion of deactivated military facilities into public commerce and education, first co-chairman of the Intergovernmental Task Force on Technology Transfer in 1988, and in 1991, he and Hilary Clinton conceived the concept of a regional science and technology residential high school for Arkansas. Among others, Dr. Hart has received recognition from President Ronald Reagan, Governor Bill Clinton and President Mohamed Mubarak for his visionary efforts. His views on the management of science, creative deployment of scientific resources market needs and the training/re training of workers, are highly solicited for publication, as keynote addresses and in the formulation of public and private policies.

Due to Dr. Hart's accomplishments, he is frequently asked to serve in the role of mediator and consensus-builder. In this capacity, he has served as chairman of the Public Health Service's (PHS) U.S.-Indo Program, U.S.-Soviet Environmental Health Program, co-chair of the U.S.-Japan Science and Technology Treaty, chair of the American Council for International Leadership's U.S.-U.S.S.R. Science and Technology Committee, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP) Task Force on Chemical Carcinogens, the OSTP's Formaldehyde Task Force, the Domestic Policy Council's Agent Orange Science Panel, the PHS's Committee to Coordinate Environmental Health and Related Programs, the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Red Dye Number Three Panel, the FDA's Color Additive Committee, acted as advisor to the cabinet of the government of Egypt and the Ministry of the Environment of the government of India among others. Dr. Hart has the unique ability to bring together individuals of widely diverse cultural, economic, and educational backgrounds, focusing them on a given project, skillfully forging a dedicated team, and guiding them towards an honest resolution.