Rate My Professor John Ashton

Professor John Ashton is a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, at the University of Otago. He holds a BSc(Hons) from Victoria University of Wellington, a PhD in evolutionary ecology from Massey University completed in 2000, and a second PhD. His academic career began in the early 1990s teaching biology, botany, and environmental science at the University of Waikato and the Eastern Institute of Technology. After his PhD, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Otago on vestibular neurophysiology, endocannabinoids, brain injury, and pain. In 2008, he joined Otago as a confirmation pathway lecturer specializing in cannabinoid pharmacology. Following his personal diagnosis with ALK-positive lung cancer in 2013, his research pivoted from 2015 to targeted therapies for oncogenic ALK fusions. He has published widely on drug synergy, cancer cell biology, and resistance mechanisms, employing ALK-positive cell lines and spheroid models. His current research centers on drug combinations to overcome resistance to ALK inhibitors in ALK-positive lung cancer, including investigations into SHP2 inhibitors, mitochondrial metabolism, and next-generation ALK inhibitors such as neladalkib. Ashton maintains an active laboratory and has supervised numerous postgraduate students while developing novel assays and curriculum content.

Ashton delivers pharmacology teaching to science, medical, dental, and physiotherapy students and serves as coordinator for PHAL304 Human Pharmacology. He received the 2018 Faculty of Biomedical Sciences Academic Staff Support fund of $199,639 to identify cell-signalling targets for drug combinations addressing drug resistance in oncogene-driven lung cancer. In the same year, he was appointed Chair of New Zealand's governmental Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs. Key publications include 'ALK inhibitors against resistance in non-small cell lung cancer: An 18 year medical arms race' (Biochemical Pharmacology, 2025), 'Development of an ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer in vitro tumor 3D culture model for therapeutic screening' (Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry, 2025, with Berry et al.), 'Pharmacological and ethical comparisons of lung cancer medicine accessibility in Australia and New Zealand' (Journal of Medical Ethics, 2025, with Fenton), and 'The case for publicly funding lorlatinib' (New Zealand Medical Journal, 2024). In July 2025, he presented his Inaugural Professorial Lecture entitled 'Pharmacology with skin in the game'.