John McPherson has been appointed Cancer Genomics Director and Senior Principal Investigator at OICR. McPherson will be overseeing the research conducted in OICR’s two genomic research labs where researchers will be using cancer genome sequencing and other high-throughput techniques to identify genes critical to the development of cancer.

“The genomics program at OICR has just started,” said Tom Hudson, President and Scientific Director of OICR, “but I am confident that with John’s leadership and experience the program will be making significant contributions to the field of cancer research quite soon. The genomics platform will support OICR's innovation programs, leading to new cancer therapies.”

“I congratulate John on his appointment to OICR,” said Bob Phillips, OICR’s Deputy Director. “We are extremely fortunate that we were able to recruit back to Canada an outstanding scientist of his calibre.”

McPherson, a Canadian, comes to OICR from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. There he was an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics with a joint appointment in the Human Genome Sequencing Center. Prior to that McPherson was an Associate Professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis where he was Co-Director of the Genome Sequencing Center. He has also worked as an Assistant Professor at the University of California Irvine (UCI) and was the Co-Director of UCI’s National Human Genome Research Centre. He co-founded Orion Genomics in St. Louis, a biotech research company using DNA methylation analysis technology to identify genes associated with tumour development.

“This is a great opportunity,” said McPherson. “I like the vision and the setup of OICR, and I like the mandate to bring research to the patient. I think the research environment here is spectacular and I look forward to OICR establishing itself as a world class institute very soon.”

McPherson completed both his B.Sc. and PhD at Queen’s University in Kingston.