Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr. serves as President of the John Templeton Foundation, directing all Foundation activities in pursuit of its mission to encourage progress in scientific and religious knowledge and the enhancement of character development and free enterprise. He works closely with the Foundation’s staff and international board of advisors of more than 50 leading scholars, scientists, researchers and theologians to develop substantive programs in this endeavor.

Dr. Templeton has been actively involved in the Foundation since its inception in 1987. In 1995, he retired from his medical practice to serve full-time as president of the Foundation. His more than 25-year career as a physician and long-held spiritual beliefs provide both the formal science training and the commitment to advance the Foundation’s work.

After receiving a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, Dr. Templeton earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston. He completed his internship and residency in surgery at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond and subsequently trained in pediatric surgery under Dr. C. Everett Koop at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. After serving two years in the U.S. Navy, he returned to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 1977, where he served on the staff as pediatric surgeon and trauma program director. He also served as professor of pediatric surgery at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Templeton was board certified in pediatric surgery and surgical critical care and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He serves as a board member of the American Trauma Society and as a president of its Pennsylvania division. He is a member of the Cradle of Liberty Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Board of Trustees of Eastern University, the Session for Proclamation Presbyterian Church, the American Medical Association, the American Pediatric Surgical Association, the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and the Gallup Institute. He has published numerous papers in medical and professional journals, in addition to two books, A Searcher’s Life and Thrift and Generosity: The Joy of Giving.