Jan Sapp was born on 1 June 1954. In 1975 he was awarded his BSc. from Dalhousie University, Canada. This was followed by an Honours year. In 1979 he became an Exchange Doctoral Student at Johns Hopkins University. Finally in 1984, he was awarded his PhD in the History of Science from the University of Montreal, Canada.
During his academic career he worked as a Laboratory Instructor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Dalhousie University in 1976; a Technician at the Nova Scotia Pathology Institute during the summers of 1975 and 1976; a Research Assistant (in the Department of Genetics) at Dalhousie University during 1976-77 and as a Research Assistant in the Department of History of Medicine at the University of Montreal in 1977. Since then he has worked as a Guest Researcher at the Centre de Genetique Moleculaire at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif-sur-Yvette in France during 1982. In 1980 he was appointed Lecturer in Social Aspects of Engineering at Concordia University, Montreal for three semesters before going to France. In 1983 he was appointed Visiting Assistant Professor in the History Department of the University of Arizona where he stayed until 1984. He then became a Lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Melbourne until 1988.

Dr Sapp has published a number of papers and articles on the history of genetics as well as a book entitled "Beyond the Gene: Cytoplasmic Inheritance and the Struggle for Authority in Genetics" that was published by Oxford University Press in 1987.

Currently Dr Sapp is Associate Professor in the Department of Science Studies at Joseph E. Atkinson College which is part of the York University, North York, Ontario in Canada.