Rick L. Danheiser is an American organic chemist and is the Arthur C. Cope Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and chair of the MIT faculty.

His doctoral research (under the direction of E. J. Corey) involved the first total synthesis of the diterpene plant growth hormone gibberellic acid.

[15] Natural products synthesized in his laboratory at MIT include the neurotoxic alkaloids anatoxin a[16] and quinolizidine 217A,[17] the immunosuppressant agent mycophenolic acid[18] the antitumor agent ascochlorin[19] and a number of diterpene quinones derived from the Chinese traditional medicine Dan Shen.

Organic Syntheses has the unusual feature that all data and experiments reported in articles must be confirmed in the laboratory of a member of the editorial board prior to publication.

[26] At MIT, Danheiser's educational contributions have been recognized with a MacVicar Faculty Fellowship,[27] the School of Science Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching,[28] the MIT Graduate Student Council Teaching Award, and the School of Science Prize for Graduate Education.