John McLean, PhD

John A. McLean is Stevenson Professor of Chemistry, Chair of the Department of Chemistry, Chair of the Faculty Senate, and Director of the Center for Innovative Technololies at Vanderbilt University. Prof. McLean completed his Ph.D at George Washington University in 2001, postdoctoral research at Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany and then at Texas A&M University with Prof. David H. Russell in biological mass spectrometry. Since 2006, McLean and colleagues have focused on the conceptualization, design, and construction of ion mobility and structural mass spectrometers, specifically targeting complex samples in systems, synthetic, and chemical biology. His group applies these strategies to forefront translational research areas in drug discovery, personalized medicine, and ‘human-on-chip’ synthetic biology platforms. Prof. McLean has received a number of awards, including the Agilent Thought Leader Award, Waters Center of Innovation, Excellence in Teaching Award from the student members of the American Chemical Society, a Defense Threat Reduction Agency Research Award, an American Society for Mass Spectrometry Research Award, a Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh Award, an R&D 100 Award, and the Bunsen–Kirchhoff Prize from the GDCh (German Chemical Society), among others. He has published over 150 manuscripts and over 30 patents in these and allied areas.