Melody Swartz

Melody A. Swartz (born April 1969) is a professor and vice dean for faculty affairs at the University of Chicago who pioneered research in engineering complex tissues. Her most cited work "Capturing complex 3D tissue physiology in vitro" has been cited over 1784 times. Her research is focused on understanding the role of the lymphatic system regulating immunity in homeostasis and diseases, particularly cancer. She was previously director of the Institute of Bioengineering at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2023, the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium in 2023, and the National Academy of Medicine in 2020.

Education Swartz was born in Illinois. She earned her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at Johns Hopkins University (1991) and her PhD in chemical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1998). She did her postdoctoral work in the pulmonary division at Harvard Medical School.

Career Swartz began her career working at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, from 1999 to 2004 as an assistant professor in the chemical, biomedical and bioengineering departments. She served various roles in the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne from 2003 to 2016. first as an assistant professor in the institute of bioengineering, then becoming an associate professor in 2007, finally getting a professorship in 2010 and becoming the institute's director in 2012 until 2014. and the committee on cancer biology.

Swartz is a member of many college boards and advisory councils. She is a part of MIT's Koch Institute's scientific advisory board and has previously served as a strategic scientific advisory board member for the Basel Research Center for Child Health.

Academia Swartz main focus of research throughout her career has been topics relating to cancer, lymphatic immunology and immunotherapy. a journal covering topics on cellular and molecular mechanisms (2011–present). Swartz is also on the editorial boards of Cancer Immunology Research (2013–present) and Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology (2015–present).

Honors Swartz has received various honors and awards throughout her career. On February 7, 2023, Swartz was elected 1 of 106 new members of the National Academy of Engineering In 2012 Swartz was made a fellow of the MacArthur Foundation.