Dr. Patil received his master’s degree in Horticulture from the University of Agricultural Sciences in India. He then earned his PhD in horticulture from Texas A&M University. Furthering his studies, Dr. Patil held postdoctoral fellowships in horticulture, one at Washington State University and one at the University of California.

In 1989, Dr. Patil began as an Assistant Professor in Sciences at the University of Agril, India.  Dr. Patil then joined the faculty at California State University. In 1997 he returned to his alma mater, Texas A&M University, at the Kingsville campus, eventually landing at the College Station campus as Director of the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center and Associate Professor of Horticulture, positions he still holds today.

Over the years, Dr. Patil has received a long and diverse list of awards. In 2001, he received the coveted award for Outstanding Teacher from the Department of Agronomy and Resource Sciences at Texas A&M-Kingsville. He was also named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation. Other honors include receiving an Outstanding Young Scientist Award in the Division of Agriculture and Food Chemistry from the American Chemical Society and earning the Rajothsava Award, the highest award given by the Karnataka State Government in India.

In addition to his awards and honors, Dr. Patil’s colleagues have elected him to numerous leadership positions. He served as the Chair of the International Symposium “Potential Health Benefits of Citrus” held by the American Chemical Society (ACS), and he was the Chair of the Agriculture and Food Chemistry Division within the ACS. Most recently, he has served as the Chair of the Second International Symposium on Human Health Effects of Fruits and Vegetables held by the International Society of Horticulture Science.  Currently Dr. Patil is a member of the Nutrition Advisory Board of Sunkist, Incorporated, and serves on the International Advisory Committee at the International Conference on Functional Food and Nutraceuticals.

Dr. Patil has authored more than 100 publications. His most recent research focuses on the health effects of citrus on bone strength and on neoplastic cell lines. Dr. Patil and his colleagues have been able to isolate various bioactive compounds that are being studied for their potential role in the prevention of disease.

Dr. Patil also created a phytochemicals course at Texas A&M University that was the first of its kind. The course, which combined faculty from plant physiology, horticulture, plant breeding, food science, plant pathology, chemistry, biochemistry, postharvest physiology and the medical sciences, focuses on finding out how compounds in the foods we consume are beneficial to us. Since its inception, the phytochemicals course has been adopted by several other colleges and universities.

Dr. Adrian A. Franke currently serves as a member of the Tropicana Nutrition Institute Advisory Board. Dr. Franke’s background includes a PhD from the University of Freiburg, Germany. After years of education and research, Dr. Franke was named a specialist at the prestigious Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, located at the University of Hawaii. The center focuses on the prevention, causes and treatments of cancer through a broad scope of disciplines, while conducting clinical trials and providing education about their findings.

Dr. Franke also currently serves as a member of the graduate faculty at the University of Hawaii, instructing classes in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition within the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.

Dr. Franke has published widely in the area of the health effects of food components.   Dr. Franke and his colleagues have studied soy phytoestrogens and their possible connection to the occurrence of breast cancer. He has also researched the effects of diets high in fruits and vegetables and published on the bioavailability and antioxidant effects of orange juice components in humans.