J. D. Swanson holds a PhD in integrative biosciences from the Pennsylvania State University and a fifth-degree black belt from the International Shotokan Karate Federation. He is an official ISKF instructor, examiner, and judge, having studied under both Okazaki and Yaguchi sensei, and serves on the East Coast Technical Committee of the ISKF and is the Chair of the North American Collegiate Karate Association.
He is also an author of the best selling book Karate Science: Dynamic Movement published by YMAA. Swanson began his martial studies in 1980 in his native New Zealand. He moved to the United States in 1998.
He is currently on loan to the National Science Foundation in Washington DC helping advance American science but in his normal life, he is a professor in the Department of Biology and Biomedical Sciences at Salve Regina University and the head instructor of the Shotokan karate clubs at both Brown and Salve Regina Universities.