Physiologist dies at the age of 85
Fellow was former Head of MRC Neuroendocrine Development and Behaviour Group
Dr John Bower Hutchison, an alumnus, Fellow and former College lecturer in Physiology at St John’s, has died.
After taking a degree at the former University of Natal (now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal) in South Africa from 1956-61, Dr Hutchison came to St John’s College in 1964 to study Zoology. He was a Fellow in Physiology at the College from 1967-70 and returned in 1975 after being re-elected to the Fellowship.
His research interests included the role of steroids in neuroprotection and brain repair, and the neural, biochemical and genetic mechanisms involved in the sexual differentiation of the brain and behaviour. He edited Biological Determinants of Sexual Behaviour, first published in 1976.
Dr Hutchison was Head of the MRC Neuroendocrine Development and Behaviour Group (1987-1999), and during the 1990s was EU Biomedical Coordinator and Adviser to the former Netherlands Institute for Brain Research.
A Chartered Biologist (Cbiol), he was a Fellow of the Institute of Biology, a Senior Member of the Society for Endocrinology and in 2013 he was made an Emeritus member of the Society for Neuroscience in the United States.
Dr Hutchison, who was 85, died peacefully in hospital on 6 February 2024.
His funeral is being held at St Peter’s Church, Coton, on Thursday 7 March at 2pm and a memorial recital will take place in St John’s College Chapel at a later date.
Published 16/2/2024