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Who is John “Wick” Johnson? A Road With Many Turns
John H. “Wick” Johnson was born in Dallas, TX. When he was a boy, his main interest was fish and fishing. He could never get enough learning about the various kinds of fish. He wanted to know their habits, habitats, prey, and, as a result, a great deal of their physiology. He received a rod and reel for his 10th birthday and fished every time he was allowed. He read every magazine and book on fish he could get his hands on. When he was 12, his family moved near a stream and lake that were within a bicycle ride. Also that year, he received a fly rod. This opened up a whole new area for him because he could learn how to tie flies. For this, he had to learn a lot about insects that lived around water so that he could tie a fly that looked like the different real insects. Anatomy was important in this activity, as the various insects differ anatomically, as do the other types of non-insect lures that are used in fly fishing. This is a passion he enjoys with his wife to this day. They fly fish for everything from sunfish in fresh water to tarpon and sailfish in salt water.
An English Major Playing Sports It turned out to be the most fascinating class Wick had taken in college to date. As he looks back on it, this was probably because of the way it was taught and the fact that he was an English major. The teacher included the names and history behind the people responsible for making the big jumps in ideas. The course was tough in that it was as much biochemistry as cell biology and the work involved was huge, but the lectures were the most interesting of any he had gone to in college. From there on Wick took science courses as electives and was able to finish the classes needed for a second degree in Microbiology, one year after obtaining the English degree. Physiology TrainingHe received his PhD degree in 1978 from Oklahoma State University where he studied bacterial cell division. After a postdoctoral fellowship in biochemistry at Cornell University studying cancer biology, Dr. Johnson became a faculty member of the Departments of Internal Medicine and Physiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1981. As he began his research on diabetes, it became apparent very quickly to him that an understanding of physiology and metabolism was essential to his work. Although he had taken a number of classes during his undergraduate and graduate days, whole animal physiology was something that meant he needed to learn a new set of tools. Learning about whole animal physiology increased his appreciation of the complexities of system interactions. It soon became apparent that the pathways and genes were only part of the story. Changing Career Paths Dr. Johnson’s career path has been a road that has taken many turns. However, even today he isn’t sure that the career path hasn’t decided on him rather than him deciding on it. In 1996, he was asked to come to work at Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research to continue his work in diabetes. The main events in his transition to his present position were two-fold. First, shortly after joining Parke-Davis, Dr. Johnson was placed on drug development teams in addition to his research responsibilities. He had absolutely no idea of what was involved in taking a drug from the bench to the patient. Finding a promising chemical entity for a disease is really what people think the process is and, to be sure, this is a major part of the business. However, the careful design and conduct of safety studies and clinical trials, the work that goes into making manufacturing possible, the financial considerations and interactions with the regulatory authorities are huge. The second event was the need to obtain outside assistance and technologies. Most pharmaceutical companies have neither the time nor the personnel to develop technology that may be of limited use beyond the current need. Therefore, they enter into collaborative or contract arrangements with biotech and other companies that have the needed expertise. Being involved in the negotiations between the companies that allows both sides to get something without either side giving too much away can be very difficult at times. In addition, managing the joint effort can be difficult because of intellectual property protection needs. Dr. Johnson ended up being in charge of a number of these joint efforts. Then, when Pfizer and Parke-Davis merged, he was asked to take a job in Licensing and Development. Because he had really enjoyed the previous experiences, he decided to accept the offer. Current JobHis current position is Director of Licensing and Development for Pfizer, Inc. His job is to go around the world looking for new and unique approaches to treating cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, like diabetes and obesity. This means finding out as much as possible about the drug, figuring out how useful the drug would be and how hard it would be to make, working with a technical team for a more in-depth evaluation of the drug, working with teams from both Pfizer and the other party to come up with an acceptable agreement, and finally to bring all the information to Pfizer’s senior management for a decision. Dr. Johnson has logged a lot of miles in this job, which is hard, but he is really enjoying the challenge of the job.
For Fun Physiology is a great field of study in that you will receive a broad-based curriculum in the biological sciences. This gives you the flexibility to pursue many different careers in science and medicine.
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