Richard T. Johnson
Encyclopedia
Richard T. Johnson, M.D., is a physician and scientist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Johnson has been a faculty member in the Department of Neurology since its inception in 1969 and is the former head of the department. His research into the effects of viruses on the central nervous system
has been published in over 300 scientific articles, and Johnson is both a journal and book editor and the author of an influential textbook, Viral Infections of the Nervous System.
, received his undergraduate degree cum laude from the University of Colorado
in Boulder
in 1953. He remained in Colorado to earn his medical degree in 1956 at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver. He interned in internal medicine at Stanford University
.
From 1957-1959, Johnson conducted research at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
, Department of Virus Diseases, in Washington, DC. Johnson completed his residency
in neurology at Harvard Medical School
and Massachusetts General Hospital
. He conducted research at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Australian National University
from 1962-1964.
.
In 1969, Johnson moved to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
, accepting the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professorship of Neurology and founding a new Department of Neurology with Guy McKhann. Johnson was director of the department from 1988 until 1997 and remains a faculty member. He is also a professor of microbiology in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
. Johnson has been a visiting professor at universities in Peru
, Thailand
, Iran
, and Germany
.
Johnson is on the staff of the Johns Hopkins Hospital
and until 1997 was Neurologist-in Chief at the Johns Hopkins Hospital
. He was certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
in 1966.
In 1997, Johnson became the founding director of the National Neuroscience Institute of Singapore, which he directed until 2000. He also assumed editorship of the Annals of Neurology.
Johnson's monograph Viral Infections of the Nervous System was published in 1982. A second edition followed in 1998.
During his career, Johnson has supervised the post-doctoral training of many notable scientists, including Janice E. Clements
, Diane Griffin
, and Opendra "Bill" Narayan
.
, a prion disease, in Papua New Guinea
. When Johnson became a professor at Johns Hopkins, his lab held joint lab meetings with Gajdusek's lab. Johnson helped to examine the first chimpanzee to show signs of Kuru after Gajdusek experimentally inoculated it with brain matter from a human victim. Johnson later chaired a US Institute of Medicine committee on TSEs. The committee released a report in 2004, stressing the need for further and expanded research into prion diseases
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
has been published in over 300 scientific articles, and Johnson is both a journal and book editor and the author of an influential textbook, Viral Infections of the Nervous System.
Education and training
Johnson, who was raised in ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, received his undergraduate degree cum laude from the University of Colorado
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
in Boulder
Boulder
In geology, a boulder is a rock with grain size of usually no less than 256 mm diameter. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive....
in 1953. He remained in Colorado to earn his medical degree in 1956 at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver. He interned in internal medicine at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
From 1957-1959, Johnson conducted research at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
This article is about the U.S. Army medical research institute . Otherwise, see Walter Reed .The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research is the largest biomedical research facility administered by the U.S. Department of Defense...
, Department of Virus Diseases, in Washington, DC. Johnson completed his residency
Residency (medicine)
Residency is a stage of graduate medical training. A resident physician or resident is a person who has received a medical degree , Podiatric degree , Dental Degree and who practices...
in neurology at Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
and Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
. He conducted research at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
from 1962-1964.
Career
Johnson's first faculty appointment was as an assistant, then associate, professor of neurology at Case Western Reserve UniversityCase Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...
.
In 1969, Johnson moved to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine , located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., is the academic medical teaching and research arm of Johns Hopkins University. Hopkins has consistently been the nation's number one medical school in the amount of competitive research grants awarded by the National...
, accepting the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professorship of Neurology and founding a new Department of Neurology with Guy McKhann. Johnson was director of the department from 1988 until 1997 and remains a faculty member. He is also a professor of microbiology in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
. Johnson has been a visiting professor at universities in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Johnson is on the staff of the Johns Hopkins Hospital
Johns Hopkins Hospital
The Johns Hopkins Hospital is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland . It was founded using money from a bequest by philanthropist Johns Hopkins...
and until 1997 was Neurologist-in Chief at the Johns Hopkins Hospital
Johns Hopkins Hospital
The Johns Hopkins Hospital is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland . It was founded using money from a bequest by philanthropist Johns Hopkins...
. He was certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation that was founded in 1934 following conferences of committees appointed by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Neurological Association, and the then Section on Nervous and Mental Diseases of the American...
in 1966.
In 1997, Johnson became the founding director of the National Neuroscience Institute of Singapore, which he directed until 2000. He also assumed editorship of the Annals of Neurology.
Johnson's monograph Viral Infections of the Nervous System was published in 1982. A second edition followed in 1998.
During his career, Johnson has supervised the post-doctoral training of many notable scientists, including Janice E. Clements
Janice E. Clements
Janice Ellen Clements is Vice Dean for Faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Mary Wallace Stanton Professor of Faculty Affairs. She is a professor in the departments of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology, Neurology, and Pathology, and has a joint appointment in Molecular...
, Diane Griffin
Diane Griffin
Diane Griffin is the Alfred and Jill Sommer Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She holds joint appointments in the departments of Neurology and Medicine. In 2004, Dr...
, and Opendra "Bill" Narayan
Opendra Narayan
Opendra "Bill" Narayan was an AIDS researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the University of Kansas Medical Center. A veterinarian, Narayan researched animal models of HIV...
.
Research
Throughout his career, Johnson has contributed to understanding of infections of the central nervous system.Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
Johnson met D. Carleton Gajdusek, 1976 Nobel Prize winner for his work on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs, or prion diseases), while working at Walter Reed in the 1950s. In 1964, Johnson himself observed a case of KuruKuru (disease)
Kuru is an incurable degenerative neurological disorder that is a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, caused by a prion found in humans...
, a prion disease, in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. When Johnson became a professor at Johns Hopkins, his lab held joint lab meetings with Gajdusek's lab. Johnson helped to examine the first chimpanzee to show signs of Kuru after Gajdusek experimentally inoculated it with brain matter from a human victim. Johnson later chaired a US Institute of Medicine committee on TSEs. The committee released a report in 2004, stressing the need for further and expanded research into prion diseases
Honors and awards
Johnson's honors and awards include:- The Ford Award for clinical teaching at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (twice)
- The Humboldt PrizeHumboldt PrizeThe Humboldt Prize, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to internationally renowned scientists and scholars, and is currently valued at € 60,000 with the possibility of further support during the prize winner's life. Up to one...
(Germany) - The Gordon Wilson Medal from the American Clinical and Climatological Association
- The Jean Martin Charcot Award from the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies
- The Smadel Medal from the Infectious Disease Society of America
- The first Multiple Sclerosis Society Medal from the Association of British Neurologists
- The Florence Rena Sabin Award from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
- The first Victor and Clara Soriano Award from the World Federation of Neurology
- The Order of Hipolito Unanue conferred by the President and the Minister of Health of PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
- The first Pioneer of Neurovirology Award from the International Society for Neurovirology
- Elected to the Institute of MedicineInstitute of MedicineThe Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...
(1987) - Distinguished Service Professor of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (2001)
- Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of PhysiciansRoyal College of PhysiciansThe Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
in London (2003)