John Chatham, Ph.D., a professor in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, will retire at the end of the month, August 31, 2026, after 15 years of service in the Department of Pathology and more than 26 years at UAB.
Chatham earned his Ph.D. in 1987 from the University of Oxford, England, in the Department of Biochemistry and Merton College. He went on to complete post-doctoral fellowships at Huntington Medical Research Institutes in Pasadena, California in 1987 and at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1989. Chatham was an instructor in the Department of Radiology at Johns Hopkins until 1991 when he joined their faculty as an assistant professor.
Chatham first joined UAB in 2000 as an associate professor in the Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Disease and in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. In 2006, he served as co-director of the Small Animal MR Imaging Facility. In 2007, he was promoted to professor and served as section head Cardiovascular Biochemistry until 2010. In 2011, Chatham joined the Department of Pathology as director of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, a role he kept until 2018.
“Being a member of the UAB Department of Pathology for the past 15 years has truly been a highlight of my career, and it has given me a front-row seat to a lot of great science,” said Chatham. “It was an honor to serve as director of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology. But what I’ll carry with me most are the friendships and collaborations I built here, the kind that outlast grant cycles, survive committee meetings, and will follow me into retirement.”
For more than 10 years, the primary focus of Chatham’s research has been the role of glucose-dependent, post-translational modifications of proteins by O-linked beta-N-acety lg lucosamine moiety in mediating cardiomyocyte stress responses. He has chaired and reviewed many NIH study sections, and has served on dozens of international, federal, state, and local grant review committees. His laboratory has been consistently funded with multiple NIH R01 and R21 grants.
Throughout his time at UAB, Chatham has served as a scientist in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Clinical Nutrition Center, and the Center for Free Radical Biology. He served as senior scientist in the Center for Aging and the Diabetes Research and Training Center and as a member of the Centers for Clinical and Translational Science and Cardiovascular Biology. From 2012 to 2017, Chatham was co-director of the UAB Comprehensive Cardiovascular Center.
“I want to congratulate John on a remarkable career and acknowledge his outstanding contributions in research, service, leadership, and mentorship to our department, and especially the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology,” said Rakesh Patel, Ph.D., Division Director, Molecular and Cellular Pathology. “As previous director of the division, he played a pivotal role in elevating the division’s academic and research accomplishments while fostering a supportive and collaborative culture.”
Chatham is a current member of the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council and the American Physiological Society’s Cardiovascular and Endocrinology and Metabolism Sections. From 2010 to 2013, he served as both chair of the Science Policy Committee and as a Member of Council for the American Physiology Society. He has served on many committees at UAB, most recently interviewing applicants for the UAB Medical Scientist Training Program in 2025. Chatham is a current reviewer for the UAB Heersink School of Medicine AMC21 pilot grants and the UAB Faculty Development Grant Program. He serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for the journal Life Sciences and as a review editor for the journal Frontiers in Physiology – Striated Muscle Physiology. Chatham has served as a reviewer for more than 50 other journals over the course of his career.
One of Chatham’s most prolific contributions to the field has been his extensive teaching and mentorship experience. Aside from his teaching and lectureships roles, he has served as mentor to many junior faculty members and postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate trainees. Chatham has authored more than 165 publications with an H-index of 77 and has delivered dozens of major lectures across the globe.
“Since meeting Dr. John Chatham in Kananaskis Canada in 2010 he has been an integral force in my career and development,” said Adam Wende, Ph.D., a professor and close colleague of Chatham’s in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology. “What started as a mutual interest in protein O-GlcNAcylation has grown to a friendship of more than 15 years. John is a genuine person who is eager to help those around him, he has given me (and continues to give me) outstanding advice. Not only on our research interests, but also career development, and importantly ways to manage work life balance. I count John as one of my closest collaborators and friends and though I know he is retiring this month, I have every confidence he will continue to contribute to the excellent research here at UAB and in the Department of Pathology and I look forward to continuing our friendship and collaborations in the years to come.”