John W. Pham is an American molecular biologist and editor-in-chief of ''Cell'', a prestigious scientific journal. He is an advocate for inclusion and diversity, and he represents

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

and Asian communities.

Biography

John Pham was born in the U.S. a few weeks after his parents and older siblings arrived as refugees from

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, and he was raised in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. He earned a bachelor's degree (B.S.) in music and biochemistry from

Bates College Bates College () is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian ...

. He completed a Ph.D. at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

under advisor Erik Sontheimer. His research focused on understanding the mechanisms of RNA splicing and

RNA interference RNA interference (RNAi) is a biological process in which RNA molecules are involved in sequence-specific suppression of gene expression by double-stranded RNA, through translational or transcriptional repression. Historically, RNAi was known by ...

. He presented his dissertation in 2006 which was entitled ''Building the Drosophila RNA-induced silencing complex''. After is PhD, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

and

Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH or The Brigham) is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two ...

Career at Cell Press

He joined

Cell Press Cell Press is an all-science publisher of over 50 scientific journals across the life, physical, earth, and health sciences, both independently and in partnership with scientific societies. Cell Press was founded and is currently based in Cambri ...

in 2008 as a member of the editorial team of the journal ''

Molecular Cell ''Molecular Cell'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers research on cell biology at the molecular level, with an emphasis on new mechanistic insights. It was established in 1997 and is published two times per month. The journal is pu ...

,'' of which he would become the editor-in-chief later in 2012. In 2018, Pham was appointed editor-in-chief of

Cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

, succeeding Emilie Marcus who had departed in February 2018.

Involvement with inclusion and diversity

John Pham is a member of the

LGBT community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ people, LGBTQ individuals united by LGBTQ culture, a common culture and LGBTQ movements, social movements. These Community, comm ...

. In June 2019, he was a speaker at an event organized by

Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...

Pride and

500 Queer Scientists 500 Queer Scientists is a visibility campaign for LGBTQ+ people working in the sciences. Queer scientists submit short descriptions of their lives to the organization; these are manually checked and proof-read before being posted to the group's w ...

at the

WorldPride NYC 2019 WorldPride is a series of international LGBT pride events coordinated by InterPride; they are hosted in conjunction with local LGBT pride festivals, with host cities selected via bids voted on during InterPride's annual general meetings. Its core ...

. He has played a major role in making the journal ''Cell'' more inclusive. Since he started with ''Cell'', he has helped shift the advisory board from roughly 20% women to 50% women. Additionally, the ''Cell'' reviewers have changed from 18% to 33% women during the time John Pahn has been editor-in-chief of the journal. According to his ideology, a more diverse science is better science, and including more women will lead to better ideas and talent.

Personal life

, Pham resides in

Dorchester, Boston Dorchester () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood comprising more than in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, E ...

with his partner and their two dogs. Among his hobbies, he likes running, enjoying good beer, tending to his plants, cooking, and hanging out with his partner and pets.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pham, John Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Bates College alumni Northwestern University alumni Elsevier people American academic journal editors American editors American molecular biologists 21st-century American biologists American people of Vietnamese descent LGBTQ people from Florida American LGBTQ scientists American LGBTQ people of Asian descent Vietnamese LGBTQ scientists Biologists from Florida