Professor John Boothroyd

As Chair of the Schmidt Science Fellows Academic Council, Professor John Boothroyd is responsible for the scientific and career mentoring for a group of Schmidt Science Fellows, as well as making his expertise available to all current Fellows and Senior Fellows. He also works with the Schmidt Science Fellows to deliver bespoke training for the fellows on areas of expertise including grant writing and managing interdisciplinary teams.

John is Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs and the Burt and Marion Avery Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University, positions he continues to hold while working part-time with Schmidt Science Fellows. He is a recipient of multiple awards for mentoring graduate students and postdocs.

John completed his first degree at McGill University, before moving to the University of Edinburgh to undertake his PhD. He then embarked on a career in the pharmaceutical sector at the Wellcome Laboratories near London, UK, where he worked on Foot and Mouth Disease Virus and the fundamental science of antigenic variation in African trypanosomes. John returned to academia with a faculty position at Stanford University where he continued to work on trypanosomes. In addition to unraveling much about the molecular basis of antigenic variation, his group discovered mRNA trans-splicing. He also embarked on work on the cell biology and pathogenesis of Toxoplasma. 

First as Senior Associate Dean for Research and Training in the School of Medicine and then as Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs at Stanford University, John has helped transform the postdoctoral experience at the university, co-creating the School of Medicine Career Center, the Postdoc Scientific Management Series, and “Management Matters,” a program that trains postdocs as managers and facilitators.