| Mount Sinai School researcher named to chair microbiology, molecular cell biology |
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November 8, 2005 Edward E. Johnson, Ph.D.  NORFOLK—Edward E. Johnson, Ph.D., a veteran scientist with annual federal research funding of more than $800,000 to study cancer and HIV, has been named chairman of the EVMS Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology. Johnson comes to EVMS from Rockefeller University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he was most recently a professor in the medical school’s cancer center and vice chairman for research in the Department of Pathology. “Dr. Johnson is an outstanding scientist with a track record of peer-reviewed funding from the NIH (National Institutes of Health) and like organizations,” said EVMS Dean and Provost Gerald Pepe, Ph.D., in making the appointment. Johnson earned his Ph.D. in pharmacology at Yale and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Johnson brings with him NIH funding for three major projects. Two of the research efforts focus on HIV infection in the brain and HIV’s role in activating several viruses that cause opportunistic infections. The third research program is a study of the control of initiation of DNA replication in lung cancer. Johnson was attracted to EVMS in early 2004 when he was invited to lecture here. “The department is more or less evenly divided into people who are working primarily on cancer and people who are working primarily on virology and my own research bridges those two areas and even sort of unites them, because we’re actually looking at viruses in cancer in some cases,” Johnson said. One particularly appealing aspect of the EVMS research is the work in proteomics, Johnson said. While most of EVMS’ work in proteomics has concentrated on identifying biomarkers to enhance cancer detection, Johnson hopes to use the technology to help identify targets for therapy in cancer and AIDS-related diseases. Johnson’s lab has identified some of those proteins and he hopes to learn more with the help of EVMS scientists like John Semmes, Ph.D., professor and director of the George L. Wright Jr. Center for Biomedical Proteomics. The new chairman plans to recruit additional experienced faculty to help establish EVMS as a “research destination,” where scientists want to congregate and trade ideas. “I think that will really strengthen not only research in this community but our ability to translate that research to the bedside to help people in this community directly,” he said. “I see a very bright future for EVMS.” Top For more information, contact: Doug Gardner, Director of News and Publications EVMS Office of Institutional Advancement (757) 446-6070 - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |