Experience

After receiving postdoctoral training at Yale University with Alan Sartorelli, John joined the faculty in the Department of Pharmacology at Yale. He moved to the University of Pittsburgh in 1987, where he served as the Allegheny Foundation Professor and Chair of Pharmacology until 2004. From 2004 until 2010, John was the founding Director of the University of Pittsburgh Drug Discovery Institute. His primary research interests are in molecular pharmacology and drug discovery with a special interest in drugs for cancer.

John was a Corporate Associate of Johnson & Johnson between 2002-2005. He has authored 11 books, published more than 300 scientific articles and reviews, invented eight U.S. issued patents, and has been the principal investigator on numerous research grants. John has co-founded three biopharmaceutical companies. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association for Cancer Research, a member of the Board of Publication Trustees for the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and a member and chairman of the Council for Extramural Grants of the American Cancer Society.

Education

John graduated from the Johns Hopkins University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry and from the University of Michigan with a PhD in Pharmacology under the mentorship of Ray Ruddon. He is currently a member of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Board and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Cure Alzheimer’s Foundation and Celator Pharmaceuticals, Inc.