Dr. Johnson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences and the Department of Surgery at the University of British Columbia.  He is a graduate of Lakehead University and obtained his PhD from the University of Alberta before receiving post-doctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis with Drs. Kenneth Polonsky and Stan Misler.

Dr. Johnson is an expert in pancreas biology and signal transduction.  His current work focuses on the processes that control the survival and proliferation of pancreatic cells in cancer and diabetes.  Examples of ongoing projects in his laboratory include:

1.  Hyperinsulinemia in tissue growth and cancer.

2.  Pancreatic progenitor and stem cells, as well as cellular dedifferentiation.

3.  Transcription factors, such as Pdx1, that control pancreatic morphogenesis and apoptosis.

4.  High-throughput, high-content screening to discover compounds that modulate pancreatic cell survival and proliferation.