{{Short description|American immunologist and microbiologist (1936–2026)}} {{Distinguish|Michael J. Bishop}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox scientist |name = J. Michael Bishop |birth_name = John Michael Bishop |image = Nci-vol-8172-300 j michael bishop.jpg |caption = |birth_date = {{birth date|1936|2|22}} |birth_place = York, Pennsylvania, U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|2026|3|20|1936|2|22}} |death_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. |residence = |field = Virology |work_institutions = {{Plainlist| * University of California, San Francisco * Heinrich Pette Institute * National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases}} |education = Gettysburg College (Bachelors)<br>Harvard University (MD) |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = Oncogene Virus |website = {{URL|http://profiles.ucsf.edu/j.michael.bishop}} |influences = |influenced = |prizes = {{Plainlist| * Dickson Prize {{small|(1986)}} * Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine {{small|(1989)}} * ASCB Public Service Award <small>(1998)</small> * National Medal of Science {{small|(2003)}} <!--* ForMemRS {{small|(2008)}}<ref name=formemrs/>--> * Clark Kerr Award {{small|(2020)}}}} |footnotes = |signature = }}
'''John Michael Bishop''' (February 22, 1936 – March 20, 2026) was an American immunologist and microbiologist who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Harold E. Varmus.<ref>[http://visualsonline.cancer.gov/details.cfm?imageid=8172 NCI Visuals Online: Image Details]. Visualsonline.cancer.gov. Retrieved on November 24, 2013.</ref> He was a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he also served as chancellor from 1998 to 2009.<ref name="nobio">{{Nobelprize|name=J. Michael Bishop|accessdate=October 12, 2020}}</ref><ref name="ucsf">[http://chancellor.ucsf.edu/Chancellor/jmb.htm Autobiography on UCSF Website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810091101/http://chancellor.ucsf.edu/Chancellor/jmb.htm |date=August 10, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="nopress">[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1989/press.html Nobel Prize press release]</ref><ref name="stepdown">{{Cite web |url=http://news.ucsf.edu/releases/susan-desmond-hellmann-named-uc-san-francisco-chancellor/ |title=Susan Desmond-Hellmann named UC San Francisco chancellor |access-date=February 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610150844/http://news.ucsf.edu/releases/susan-desmond-hellmann-named-uc-san-francisco-chancellor/ |archive-date=June 10, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="nms">[https://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recip_details.cfm?recip_id=5000000000423 National Medal of Science details]</ref>
== Early life and education == Bishop was born in York, Pennsylvania, on February 22, 1936.<ref name="nytobit" /> He attended Gettysburg College as an undergraduate, where he was a brother of the Theta-Pi Zeta chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He later attended Harvard University Medical School, where he earned an MD in 1962.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Shampo | first1=Marc A. | last2=Kyle | first2=Robert A. | title=J. Michael Bishop—Nobel Laureate in Medicine or Physiology | journal=Mayo Clinic Proceedings | volume=77 | issue=12 | year=2002 | doi=10.4065/77.12.1312 | page=1312| pmid=12479518 | doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Career== Bishop began his career working for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a part of the National Institutes of Health. He then spent a year working for the Heinrich Pette Institute in Hamburg, Germany, before joining the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco, in 1968.<ref name="ucsf"/> Bishop remained on the school's faculty from 1968 on, and was chancellor of the university from 1998 to 2009.<ref name="stepdown"/> He was director of the Bishop Lab.<ref>[http://hooper.ucsf.edu/hooper/bishop_lab.html Bishop Lab]. Hooper.ucsf.edu. Retrieved on November 24, 2013. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202223641/http://hooper.ucsf.edu/hooper/bishop_lab.html |date=December 2, 2013 }}</ref>
He became the eighth chancellor of UCSF in 1998. He oversaw one of UCSF's major transition and growth periods, including the expanding Mission Bay development and philanthropic support recruitment. During his tenure, he unveiled the first comprehensive, campus-wide, strategic plan to promote diversity and foster a supportive work environment. During this time, UCSF also adopted a new mission: ''advancing health worldwide''™.<ref>{{cite web|title=John Michael Bishop – Biography – A History of UCSF|url=http://history.library.ucsf.edu/bishop.html|website=history.library.ucsf.edu|language=en}}</ref>
==Research== Much of this work was conducted jointly with Harold Varmus in a notably long scientific partnership. Their best-known accomplishment<ref>{{Cite journal|last1 = Stehelin|first1 = D.|last2 = Varmus|first2 = H. E.|last3 = Bishop|first3 = J. M.|last4 = Vogt|first4 = P. K.|date = March 11, 1976|title = DNA related to the transforming gene(s) of avian sarcoma viruses is present in normal avian DNA|journal = Nature|language = en|volume = 260|issue = 5547|pages = 170–173|doi = 10.1038/260170a0|pmid = 176594|bibcode = 1976Natur.260..170S|s2cid = 4178400}}</ref> was the identification of a cellular gene (c-src) that gave rise to the v-src oncogene of Rous Sarcoma Virus, a cancer-causing virus first isolated from a chicken sarcoma by Peyton Rous in 1910. Their discovery was soon followed by the identification of many other cellular proto-oncogenes—progenitors of viral oncogenes and targets for mutations that drive human cancers.
==Death== Bishop died from pneumonia in San Francisco on March 20, 2026, at the age of 90.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news |title=J. Michael Bishop, Nobel Prize Winner for Cancer Research, Dies at 90 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/22/obituaries/j-michael-bishop-dead.html |access-date=March 22, 2026 |publisher=The New York Times |date=March 22, 2026}}</ref>
==Awards and honors== Bishop is best known for his Nobel-winning work on retroviral oncogenes. Working with Harold E. Varmus in the 1980s, he discovered the first human oncogene, c-Src. Their findings allowed the understanding of how malignant tumors are formed from changes to the normal genes of a cell. These changes can be produced by viruses, by radiation, or by exposure to some chemicals.<ref name="nopress"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ucsfcat.library.ucsf.edu/record=b1894718~S0 |title=Michael Bishop archival collection at UCSF |access-date=May 14, 2015 |archive-date=October 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151022012026/http://ucsfcat.library.ucsf.edu/record=b1894718~S0 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/BC/J_Michael_Bishop.php J. Michael Bishop at AccesExcellence.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715203410/http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/BC/J_Michael_Bishop.php |date=July 15, 2009 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.ibiology.org/ibioseminars/cancer-medicine/j-michael-bishop-part-1.html J. Michael Bishop's lecture: "Cancer: The rise of the genetic paradigm"]</ref>
He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences,<ref>{{Cite web|title=J. Michael Bishop|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/57676.html|access-date=December 20, 2021|website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref> the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Michael Bishop|url=https://www.amacad.org/person/john-michael-bishop|access-date=December 20, 2021|website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|language=en}}</ref> and the American Philosophical Society.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=J.+Michael+Bishop&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=December 20, 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>
Bishop was also a recipient of National Medal of Science in 2003.<ref name="nms"/> That same year, his book ''How to win the Nobel Prize: An Unexpected Life in Science'' ({{Library of Congress Control Number|2002192234}}) was published. He was elected Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 2008.<ref name=formemrs>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151021080638/https://royalsociety.org/people/j-michael-bishop-11093/ |archive-date=October 21, 2015|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/j-michael-bishop-11093/|title=Professor J Michael Bishop ForMemRS|publisher=Royal Society|location=London}}</ref> In 2020, Bishop received from the UC Berkeley Academic Senate the Clark Kerr Award for distinguished leadership in higher education.<ref>{{Cite web|title=History of the Clark Kerr Award {{!}} Academic Senate|url=https://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/senate-service/awards/clark-kerr-award/clark-kerr-award-history|access-date=February 13, 2021|website=academic-senate.berkeley.edu}}</ref>
==Archival collections== The University of California, San Francisco, Archives and Special Collections houses a collection of J. Michael Bishop papers, including his laboratory research notebooks, writings, photographs, and other material.<ref>Calisphere J. Michael Bishop Collection: https://calisphere.org/collections/26395/</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|35em}}
==External links== * {{Nobelprize|name=J. Michael Bishop}}
{{S-start}} {{Succession box |title=ASCB Presidents |before=Ursula Goodenough |years=1996 |after=Mina Bissell}} {{S-end}} {{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1976-2000}} {{1989 Nobel Prize winners}} {{Winners of the National Medal of Science|biological}} {{UCSanFrancisco chancellors}} {{FRS 2008}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, J. Michael}} Category:1936 births Category:2026 deaths Category:21st-century American biologists Category:American fellows of the Royal Society Category:American immunologists Category:American microbiologists Category:American Nobel laureates Category:American virologists Category:Deaths from pneumonia in California Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society Category:Gettysburg College alumni Category:Harvard Medical School alumni Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:National Medal of Science laureates Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine Category:People from York, Pennsylvania Category:Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research Category:University of California, San Francisco faculty