John Cavanagh to join RTI International as senior vice president for Discovery Sciences

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC- John Cavanagh, Ph.D., will join RTI International as senior vice president for Discovery Sciences Oct. 10.

“Dr. Cavanagh’s research leadership and entrepreneurial pursuits uniquely position him to drive our efforts to improve the human condition using translational science,” said Terri Lomax, executive vice president  of Discovery-Science-Technology at RTI.

Prior to RTI, Cavanaghwas the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry at North Carolina State University. He is an expert in protein structural biology, with particular interest in how bacteria protect themselves and treating opportunistic infections. While his role will primarily be administrative, he will continue his research program at RTI.

Cavanagh was also the interim president of the David H. Murdock Research Institute (DHMRI) - a nonprofit research institute at the North Carolina Research Campus focusing on issues concerning human health, nutrition and agriculture. The DHMRI serves as the campus’ core laboratory and as a contract research organization providing scientific services for university researchers, government agencies, and small and large industry partners

Cavanagh received a doctorate in chemistry/nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy from the University of Cambridge. He has held positions as a senior research associate at The Scripps Research Institute, director of NMR structural biology at the Wadsworth Center (New York State Department of Health), associate professor of biomedical sciences (SUNY), and professor of chemistry (Purdue).

He has served on numerous National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation grant review panels. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed research publications and is co-author of the well-known and successful textbook “Protein NMR Spectroscopy.”

Cavanagh has been awarded the Foulerton Gift & Binmore Kenner Fellowship of the Royal Society and NC State University Alumni Association’s Outstanding Research Award. He was also named Entrepreneur of the Year at NC State University. In 2007 he co-founded Agile Sciences, Inc. to provide commercial solutions to those industries plagued by antibiotic resistance and biofilms, and holds multiple patents in this area.