Cavanagh to take Biochemistry helm
Dr. John Cavanagh
Dr. John Cavanagh has been named chair of the Brody School of Medicine’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, effective April 1, 2019.
Cavanagh currently serves as founder and chief scientific officer for Agile Sciences, a Raleigh-based company focused on providing solutions to antibiotic resistance. He also is an adjunct professor in North Carolina State University’s Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry. He has served since 2009 as director of the Jimmy V-NCSU Cancer Therapeutic Training Program.
“Dr. Cavanagh’s expertise will play an integral role in helping Brody grow its research enterprise,” said Dr. Mark Stacy, Brody dean and vice chancellor of the Division of Health Sciences. “He brings a dynamic blend of experience and leadership that align closely with our mission of excellence.”
From 2012 to 2014, Cavanagh served as N.C. State’s assistant vice chancellor for research development. He was interim president of the David H. Murdock Research Institute at the North Carolina Research Campus from 2014-2017, and he held the post of William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in N.C. State’s Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry between 2008-2016.
Cavanagh also has taught in Purdue University’s Department of Chemistry and served as director of the Structural Biology Facility at the Wadsworth Center, part of the New York State Department of Health. He was a senior research associate in the Department of Molecular Biology at the Scripps Research Institute.
Cavanagh earned his PhD in chemistry from Cambridge University in 1988, after which he completed an NIH post-doctoral fellowship at the Scripps Research Institute.
Cavanagh’s honors and awards include a 2017 RTI International Career Author Award, 2012 Entrepreneur of the Year at N.C. State, and an N.C. State Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award, among many others. He is the author of numerous international publications.
-by Spaine Stephens, University Communications