Jonathan Butcher

Jonathan is Professor and Associate Director of the Nancy E. and Peter C. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University, where he has taught since 2007.  Jonathan’s research focuses on understanding how tissue assembly and maturation during embryonic development are controlled by mechanical signaling, and in turn how these developmental signaling pathways are reactivated in postnatal diseases.  He applies this information to engineer new regenerative and therapeutic strategies for cardiovascular diseases. His research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and the American Heart Association. Dr. Butcher has been recognized by the Lillehei Prize (2007) of the Society for Heart Valve Disease, the Rita Schaffer Award by the Biomedical Engineering Society (2009) and the NAE Frontiers in Engineering (2010, 2011, 2014). Dr. Butcher is Fellow of the American Heart Association, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is also the Founding Director of Undergraduate Studies for the undergraduate major of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell, which began in 2015. He has published over 100 journal articles and book chapters, with 7 patents issued or pending. He has mentored 8 Postdoctoral and 16 PhD trainees to date towards acquiring careers in academia (8 tenured/tenure track faculty) or senior industry leadership positions in regenerative medicine technology companies like Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson. He has further mentored over 140 Masters and undergraduate students. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his wife Christine and their five children.