John A. McLachlan, PhD

Dr. McLachlan received his B.A. degree in Liberal Arts from the Johns Hopkins University and a doctoral degree in pharmacology from the George Washington University. Before coming to Tulane and Xavier in 1995, he spent the previous two decades at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). While at NIEHS, Dr. McLachlan's scientific contributions led to his discovery of the mechanisms by which environmental chemicals alter fetal development. Dr. McLachlan was named Scientific Director of the NIEHS in 1989. In his first five years in New Orleans Dr. McLachlan established a program on the Environment and Women's Health, formed the nation's first Center in Environmental Astrobiology and initiated the Mississippi River Interdisciplinary Research Program. Dr. McLachlan's scientific findings have been published in over 150 journal articles, 50 book chapters and 5 edited books. He presents, on average, 30 invited lectures per year and has provided scientific counsel to numerous government agencies, most recently the European Parliament. Dr. McLachlan's Environmental Endocrinology Laboratory studies environmental signaling. The major area of concentration for the lab's work is on environmental estrogens, both natural and synthetic chemicals that interact with the estrogen receptor. Lab members examine the interaction of environmental chemicals with other steroid receptors, as well as cellular signaling pathways. Model systems used in these studies include breast and endometrial cancer cell lines. The function of these compounds in animal systems is also examined.