Advisory

J. O’Neal Johnston, Ph.D.

Dr. Johnston is the Founder and Chief Scientist of Endocrine Associates, LLC, a consulting group that specializes in endocrine-related physiology, bio-molecular biology, pharmacology, and oncology that serves the biomedical/pharmaceutical industries. Dr. Johnston brings a broad range of experiences to New World Health Brands with 38 years of biomedical research with bioactive natural product compounds and their analogs. Having an Animal Science background, he was trained in botany, microbiology, agronomy, nutrition, and plant and animal sciences, then received his MS in Physiology & Genetics and Ph.D. in Biochemistry & Physiology.
 
He initially worked in both Plant Sciences and Animal Genetics for the US Dept. of Agriculture, then pharmaceutical research at The Upjohn Company, William S. Merrell Company, and Dow Chemical (Marion Merrell Dow Inc., later acquired by Sanofi, US). He held Adjunct Professorships in Environmental Health and Physiology at the University of Cincinnati Medical School, subsequently serving as Director of Endocrinology for the Wood Hudson Cancer Research Laboratory.
 
Dr. Johnston has collaborated in the development of 11 new chemical entities resulting in four marketed drugs. Responsible for the discovery, development, and clinical introduction of Plomestane, the first rationally-designed irreversible, enzyme-activated inhibitor of estrogen biosynthesis, a novel agent for the treatment of breast cancer. This class of drugs (aromatase inhibitors) is the leading treatment choice worldwide for estrogen-dependent Breast Cancer in post-menopausal women.
 
Internationally recognized in the area of sterol biochemistry with extensive expertise in endocrinology, reproductive physiology, enzymology, and oncology. He is the Inventor of record on 27 U.S. patents and over 240 foreign patents. Author of six book chapters, 42 peer-reviewed journal articles, and 148 presentations, including being an invited symposia speaker at 11 international conferences. Dr. Johnston was a peer review board member for seven scientific journals and grant reviewer of Regulatory Biology for National Science Foundation and for the Biochemical Endocrinology Study Section, National Institutes of Health.