John completed a law degree in King's College, London (1989), a Biochemistry degree at Churchill College, Cambridge (Nat Sci Tripos 1992), a PhD in Zürich, Switzerland, with Prof. Walter Schaffner (1997), and a post-doc with Prof. David Vaux in the WEHI, Australia (1997-2005). His post-doc research centred around cell death mechanisms and in particular the role of Inhibitor of APoptosis proteins (IAPs) in regulating cell death. His lab in La Trobe University (2006-2011) and WEHI (2011-) continues to explore the functions of IAPs and the transcriptional and programmed cell death pathways that they regulate; extrinsic apoptosis (eg driven by TNF) and necroptosis, in both cancer and inflammation.