Rate My Professor Graham Johnston

Graham Johnston is Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry in the Sydney Pharmacy School within the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. Born in Sydney, he graduated from the University of Sydney in 1959 with a B.Sc. (First Class Honours) and the University Medal in Organic Chemistry. He earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Cambridge in 1964, followed by a postdoctoral year in Chemical Biodynamics at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1965 to 1980, Johnston served at the Australian National University in Canberra, working in the Departments of Physiology and Pharmacology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research. In 1980, he returned to the University of Sydney as Professor of Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry, holding the position until his retirement in 2011, after which he became Emeritus Professor.

Johnston's research centers on pharmacology and medicinal chemistry, with a focus on GABA receptors, including GABAA and GABAC (ρ) receptors. His work encompasses antagonists such as bicuculline, the actions of flavonoids and neurosteroids on GABA receptors, and natural products modulating ionotropic GABA receptors, with applications to anxiety, sleep disorders, memory, myopia, stress reduction, and post-stroke motor recovery. He has authored 476 publications, accumulating over 33,000 citations on Google Scholar, with an h-index of 92; three papers are Citation Classics, and 86 have more than 100 citations. Notable publications include "Amino acid transmitters in the mammalian central nervous system" (2010, 1783 citations), "Bicuculline, an antagonist of GABA and synaptic inhibition in the spinal cord of the cat" (1971, 853 citations), "THE STRUCTURAL SPECIFICITY OF THE HIGH AFFINITY UPTAKE OF L-GLUTAMATE AND L-ASPARTATE BY RAT BRAIN SLICES" (1972, 835 citations), "GABA, bicuculline and central inhibition" (1970, 676 citations), and "The ‘ABC’ of GABA receptors: a brief review" (1999, 648 citations). His contributions have been recognized with the Member of the Order of Australia (AM), Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW (FRSN), Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE), and the H.G. Smith Memorial Medal. Johnston has also chaired organizing committees for conferences and established the Graham Johnston Best Thesis Award.