Biography

John Tavis, Ph.D., is a Professor of Molecular Virology at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine and Director of the Saint Louis University Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation. He received his Ph.D. from Penn State University in 1990 and did postdoctoral studies at the University of California – San Francisco. He is Chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Council for the International Hepatitis B Virus Meeting, Past Chairperson of the International Coalition to Eliminate HBV (ICE-HBV), a member of the Scientific and Medical Advisory Board for the Hepatitis B Foundation, and a member of the Lyon Comprehensive Hepatology Institute Scientific Advisory Board. He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Virology and Antiviral Research. His efforts to control HBV led to receipt of the 2013 Naomi Judd Award, the American Cancer Society’s Mission Hero Award in 2018, and election as a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors in 2023. He has studied HBV replication mechanisms and HBV reverse transcriptase biochemistry since 1992. He has authored >125 scientific papers and is an inventor on 15 awarded or pending patent applications. His current work focuses on the biochemistry of the HBV ribonuclease H and developing anti-RNase H drugs.