John Lucchesi obtained a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of California at Berkeley. Following postdoctoral training in the Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Oregon, he joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he rose to the rank of Cary C. Boshamer Professor of Biology and Genetics. He was appointed Adjunct Professor of Genetics at Duke University and was named Senior Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University, UK. In 1990, he joined the faculty of the Biology Department at Emory University as Asa G. Candler Professor of Biology and Chair. Dr Lucchesi is a fellow of the AAAS, a former President of the Genetics Society of America and was named Vice-President of the XVII International Congress of Genetics. His research laboratory has focused on the regulation of transcription, the functional architecture of chromatin and the genetic regulation of development.