Born and raised in the Chicago area, Dr. Mark Lathan received his Bachelor degree in performance from Northern Illinois University in 1983, where he studied trumpet with Ron Modell and jazz arranging with Frank Mantooth. Earning his Ph.D. in 2001 from UCLA, Lathan studied composition with Roger Bourland, David Lefkowitz, and Ian Krouse. While at UCLA he received the Henry Mancini Award in Film Composition and studied film scoring with Jerry Goldsmith.

He counts among his credits compositions and arrangements for jazz band as well as several film scores for independent releases. He has composed a number of concert pieces including a Trumpet Sonata and two choral cantatas, Inheritance of Love and Song of Hope. Lathan's Trumpet Concerto been performed by trumpet player Mark Baldin in various venues since 2009, the most recent with the Fox Valley Orchestra under Stephen Squires in September 2023. "Eastbound," a nine-minute work for the Jubilee Saxophone Quartet, was premiered in April of 2014 and "Imaginary Journeys" for the Chicago Gargoyle Brass was premiered in 2018.

Working in jazz as well, Lathan was a contributing arranger for legendary big band drummer Louis Bellson's Sacred Concerto, released on the Percussion Power label in 2005. Two of his flute quartet arrangements appear on the CD release Above and Beyond by the Los Angeles Flute Quartet and "Echale Todas Las Ganas" ("Give It All You Got"), a commissioned composition for Wheeling (IL) High School Jazz Band I, was premiered at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in December 2013.

Lathan's various compositions have been published by C. L. Barnhouse, Doug Beach Music, Notevole Music, and Art of Sound Publishing.

Mark Lathan: Trumpet Sonata, an album featuring Mark Baldin on trumpet, and Jon Warfel and Patricia Arzaga on piano is available on all major streaming sites.

Mark Lathan is in his twenty-first year as Music Professor at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove, IL, where he teaches music theory, composition, trumpet, and music business. He is also the director of the Waubonsee Concert Band.