New research VP for Western

London, ON – Molecular biologist Dr John Capone has been named as new vice-president (research) of the University of Western Ontario. Currently serving his second term as McMaster University’s dean of science, Dr Capone is recognized as one of Canada’s foremost molecular biologists. He begins his five-year term on October 1. 

In his new position at Western, Dr Capone says he plans to build research capacity through faculty renewal, multi-disciplinary partnerships, embedding research at the undergraduate level and connecting research activity to educational excellence.

He obtained a BSc in biochemistry from Western in 1978 and a PhD in biochemistry from McMaster University in 1983. From 1983 to 1986, he was a Medical Research Council of Canada centennial post-doctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He returned to McMaster as an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry in 1986 and was promoted to professor in 1995. He became chair of the Department of Biochemistry in 1997 and was appointed McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences’ associate dean of research in 2000. Following a five-year term, he was appointed dean of McMaster’s Faculty of Science on July 1, 2005.

His primary research interests focus on molecular studies of gene control and protein function in metabolic regulation and hormone action, and how these relate to viral infections and multi-factorial diseases such as cancer.