Dr. Susan Dutcher is a Professor of Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where her pioneering research focuses on the genetics and functional mechanics of cilia. By bridging the gap between a single-celled green alga and human tissues, her laboratory has identified dozens of genes to understand ciliary architecture and complex interactions that provide critical insights into human lung disease and potential therapeutic pathways.
Dr. Dutcher’s multidisciplinary approach integrates genomics, mass spectrometry-based proteomics, and advanced imaging—ranging from high-resolution light microscopy to single-particle cryo-electron microscopy. Her work even extends into mechanical engineering to quantify biological forces in cilia.
A seasoned leader in the scientific community, Dr. Dutcher has served as Chair of the Department of Genetics at WashU and Director of the McDonnell Genome Institute (MGI). During her tenure at MGI, she contributed to landmark initiatives including the Center for Common Disease Genomics for heart disease, the Primate Genome Project, and the inception of the Pan-Genome Project.
Dr. Dutcher earned her B.A. at Colorado College, her Ph.D. at the University of Washington under Nobel Laureate Dr. Lee Hartwell, and was a postdoctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University. After beginning her faculty career in MCDB at the University of Colorado in 1983, she joined Washington University in 1999. Her contributions to science have been recognized with election to the National Academy of Sciences, as well as fellowships in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the AAAS, and the American Society for Cell Biology.
