October is nationally recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, bringing attention to a disease that will affect more than 360,000 people this year alone—a statistic deeply familiar to Randolph “Randy” Johnson, PhD, whose wife of 44 years, Charlyn, was diagnosed in 2008.
Johnson grew up on the West Coast, spending his early years along the beaches of Southern California. He earned a BS in zoology and an MA in biology from California State University, Long Beach, initially setting his sights on a career as a physician or zoologist. However, his path shifted when he met Dr. Frank Schatzlein, an endocrinologist and master thesis advisor who introduced him to research in hormone action, second messengers, and protein phosphorylation.
"Dr. Schatzlein received a call from Dr. Bill Ingebretsen, faculty at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, who was looking for candidates interested in researching second messengers in Dr. Don Allen’s new pharmacology department at the newly established medical school in Columbia," Johnson recalls.
After going through the application process, he was accepted and made the move to South Carolina with his then-girlfriend, Charlyn, in 1978. In a surprising turn, his acceptance was rescinded just days before he was set to start; however, he was given an opportunity to work in the pharmacology lab alongside Dr. Steve Gross. After reapplying, he was accepted the following year with Gross's recommendation.
"Not many people know that the medical school originally started at the corner of Greene and Sumter before moving to the VA Hospital campus. I actually helped physically move the lab to where the School of Medicine is now," Johnson shares.
Two and a half years into his research, Dr. Gross, his PhD thesis advisor and mentor, passed away unexpectedly. This sudden loss halted his research and dissolved his dissertation committee. Starting from scratch, Johnson received support from faculty in the pharmacology and physiology departments to continue on a new project and persevere under the direction of Dr. Tom Lincoln.
The following years passed quickly for Johnson. He married Charlyn in 1980, graduated as SOMC’s first BMS PhD in Pharmacology in 1984, and then moved to Charlottesville, Va., for a postdoctoral position at the University of Virginia. In 1988, his research on the epidermal growth factor receptor caught the attention of Genentech, the world’s first biotech company, which recruited him from academia to industry. There, he worked on developing an innovative therapeutic antibody, now called Herceptin, targeting the cancer causing HER2 protein associated with aggressive breast cancer, a treatment later approved by the FDA.
In 1991, he transitioned to Syntex Research in Palo Alto (later Roche Bioscience), where he contributed to the development of the antiemetic drug Aloxi, designed to prevent chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.
“I was involved in the research and filing of the Investigational New Drug (IND) application before it was approved by the FDA and sold to pharmaceutical companies for clinical use,” he recounts, unaware then of how significant this work would become in his personal life.
In October 2008, Charlyn was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer after discovering a lump. Following her mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, she and Dr. Johnson met with her oncologist, who recommended aggressive chemotherapy and radiation, along with a drug to prevent nausea during treatment. To Johnson’s surprise, the prescribed medication was Aloxi.
“I was caught off guard,” he admits. “It had been years since I’d thought about it, and there were other options available. Yet she was prescribed the one drug I helped create and it was as effective as we had designed it.”
Since 2009, Charlyn has remained in remission with a clean bill of health. Reflecting on this journey, Johnson says, “My pharmacology career truly came full circle when she was diagnosed. Every step—from California to South Carolina to Virginia and back—led us to that pivotal moment during Charlyn’s chemotherapy, all thanks to the serendipitous call from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine to Cal State Long Beach.
“It’s essential to recognize the names of Drs. Tom Lincoln, Craig Davis, and Chairman Don Allen, as their commitment to scientific excellence and teaching profoundly shaped my pharmacological career. These faculty-student relationships were vital to my growth and success. In large part, I owe my scientific career to the pharmacology department and these early faculty members.”
Today, the couple enjoys life on the West Coast. Johnson is the Chief Scientific Officer for Angarus Therapeutics, Inc., a Stanford University SOM startup he joined in 2020, focusing on immunotherapy cancer drug discovery and development. In 2003, he received the Distinguished Doctorate Alumni Award from the USC School of Medicine Columbia. He and Charlyn have three children and four grandchildren, splitting their time between Half Moon Bay, Calif., and visiting family in Oahu, Hawaii.