Rate My Professor John VandeBerg

Dr. John VandeBerg is a professor in Health Science at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, holding the position of Professor in the Department of Human Genetics in the School of Medicine since 2017 and Professor at the South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute since 2015, both in Brownsville, Harlingen, and Edinburg, Texas. He obtained his B.S. in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1969, B.Sc. Hons. in Genetics from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia in 1970, and Ph.D. in Genetics from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia in 1975. Postdoctoral training followed as Research Associate and NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laboratory of Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison from 1975 to 1979, and Assistant Scientist there in 1979-1980. His distinguished career trajectory includes extensive leadership at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, serving as Chief Scientific Officer and George C. Hixon Distinguished Scientist from 2006 to 2014, Director of the Southwest National Primate Research Center from 1999 to 2014, Scientific Director and Corwin D. Denney Distinguished Scientist from 1993 to 1999, and Scientist roles from 1980 to 2014 including Elizabeth Coates Maddux Distinguished Scientist in Genetics from 1990 to 1993. Concurrently, he was Assistant Professor to Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Cell Systems and Anatomy at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio from 1980 to 2014. Earlier, he tutored at Macquarie University from 1973 to 1975.

Dr. VandeBerg's academic interests focus on genetics of nonhuman primates, genetic management of primate colonies, genetic research on multifactorial diseases using nonhuman primate models, X-chromosome inactivation and evolution in mammals, genetic markers in primate populations, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease genetics, Chagas’ disease susceptibility, skin and eye cancer in marsupial models, and the laboratory opossum (Monodelphis domestica) as a model for biomedical research. As director of the Laboratory Opossum Research Resource at UTRGV, he contributed opossum data to an international collaboration producing the first detailed roadmap of gene expression during mammalian organ development, published in Nature in 2019. He has received numerous honors, including Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2001), National Associate of the National Academies (2001), Honorary Diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (2001), Fellow of the American Heart Association Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (1998), President of the Texas Genetics Society (1993-1994), Lifetime Achievement Award from the Brazilian Society of Laboratory Animal Science (2014), Health Care Hero by San Antonio Business Journal (2010), and 9th Annual Doctoral Achievement Award by West San Antonio Chamber of Commerce (2010). Key publications include "Phosphoglycerate kinase polymorphism in kangaroos provides further evidence for paternal X inactivation" (Nature New Biol., 1971), "The phosphoglycerate kinase isozyme system in mammals: biochemical, genetic, developmental, and evolutionary aspects" (Isozymes Curr. Top. Biol. Med. Res., 1985), "The laboratory opossum (Monodelphis domestica) in biomedical research" (Marsupial Biology, 1997), and editorship of The Baboon in Biomedical Research (Springer, 2009). His work has profoundly influenced the development and use of animal models in genetic and biomedical research, enhancing understanding of human disease mechanisms.