John Elliott

Biography

Dr. Elliott grew up in the town of Camrose, Alberta where he completed his early schooling as well as two years of pre-medical studies at Augustana University College. In 1977 he entered the MD program at the University of Alberta, graduating with first-class standing in 1982. He completed a one-year rotating internship at the Edmonton General Hospital, and then came back to the U of A to pursue graduate studies in biochemistry and immunology, obtaining a PhD in Biochemistry in 1987. He completed postdoctoral studies in molecular immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine and at DNAX, a Silicon Valley biotech company.. In 1990 Dr. Elliott was recruited back to the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine, and since then he has had a distinguished career as a researcher and teacher. Accolades which have come to him since his PhD include a Medical Research Council (MRC) Centennial Fellowship, continuous salary funding from AHFMR from 1990-2006, 'Teacher of the Year' award from the first-year medical class in 1997, and ‘Teaching Block Coordinator of the Year’ from the first year medical class in 2005. From 1999 to 2005 he headed the Faculty’s MD/PhD program, which thrived under his direction. Dr. Elliott took a leadership role in obtaining Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) funding to establish the Alberta Diabetes Institute, and he currently directs the ‘Molecular and Biochemistry Core’ laboratory in that Institute. Dr. Elliott has authored or co-authored over 100 scholarly research publications, and has served on many national and international scientific review panels.  Along with his other pursuits, in July 2004 Dr. Elliott returned to clinical medicine at the University of Alberta, where he completed residency training in Dermatology and earned his FRCPC designation in June, 2008. After qualifying he established a sub-specialty contact allergy/patch test clinic within the Division of Dermatology at the U of A. In 2011 he was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Contact Dermatitis Society, and in 2014 he was appointed Secretary of the Canadian Dermatology Foundation, which is the major funder of basic dermatology research in Canada.

Research Interest

Basic immune mechanisms causing allergic contact dermatitis in humans Improved methods for allergy patch testing Etiology and pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes and autoimmune skin diseases