John M. McDowell (April 30, 1965 â December 24, 2024) was the J.B. Stroobants Professor of Biotechnology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His major area of research is phytopathology and plant-pathogen interactions. He used gene-sequencing technology to examine the genome of Phytophthora capsici and to develop strains of soybean plants that are better able to defend against pathogens.
John McDowell was born on April 30, 1965. He received his B.A. in cell and molecular biology from the University of Tennessee (1987). He received his Ph.D. in genetics, from the University of Georgia (1995).
McDowell was a postdoctoral fellow with Jeffery Dangl at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1995 to 1999.
McDowell joined the Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in 2000. In 2017, he was named the J.B. Stroobants Professor of Biotechnology at Virginia Tech. As of 2018, he became a professor in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech. He has served as associate scientific director at the Fralin Life Science Institute at Virginia Tech.
McDowell was a strong advocate for congressional funding of scientific research, emphasizing its importance to farmers and food production and its impact on the U.S. economy.
McDowell served on the editorial boards of multiple journals. He was editor-in-chief of Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (2016âÂÂ2018). He joined the Annual Review of Phytopathology in 2019, and became the journal's co-lead editor with Gwyn A. Beattie from 2022-2025.
McDowell studied fundamental biological principles underlying plants' susceptibility to disease, and their defense mechanisms against pathogens. His work is relevant to the development of crops with the ability to resist pathogens and increase yield. For example, McDowell studied the genome of a pathogen that kills soybeans, the second most planted crop in the U.S.. and used that information to develop strains of soybean plants that are better able to defend against the pathogen. He worked with David Haak and others on the development of gene-sequencing technology and the examination of the complex genome of Phytophthora capsici. P. capsici attacks plants including soybeans, tomatoes, and lavender.
McDowell died on December 24, 2024, after a 19-month-long battle with cancer.