William R. Jeffery

Biology

University of Maryland

William R. Jeffery
Professor

William R. Jeffery is Professor of Biology and Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has also been the Johann Friedrich Miescher Regents Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Texas at Austin, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of California, Davis, and Professor and Head of Biology at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Jeffery has published 235 papers on various topics in developmental and evolutionary biology and is particularly known for his studies on the localization of maternal determinants, including the discovery of the first localized mRNA, the role of regulatory genes in controlling changes in invertebrate larval types, and the evolutionary mechanisms of eye and pigment degeneration in cavefish. He has served on NSF and NIH panels, is a former member of the Council for the NIH Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and has served or is currently serving on the editorial boards of 10 journals. He is a former instructor and Director Emeritus in the Embryology Course, an advisor to the Grass Program in Neurobiology, and a member of the Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole. Dr. Jeffery has served as President of the Developmental Biology Section of the Society for Integrative Biology, the President of the Society for Developmental Biology, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His awards include the 2010 medal for Research Excellence in Karst Science, the 2012 A. O. Kowalevsky International Medal in Comparative Developmental Biology, and the 2018 National Speleological Society Science Award.

Publications