Nancy Craig

Nancy L. Craig is a professor emerita of molecular biology and genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She has done pioneering research on the molecular mechanisms of transposable elements, or mobile sequences of DNA found in the genomes of most known organisms.

Education Craig grew up in Concord, Calif., graduated from Concord High School and attended Bryn Mawr College, a women's college, as an undergraduate. She later described the environment as "empowering" due to lack of female role models elsewhere in science. In 1992, Craig moved her laboratory from UCSF to Johns Hopkins University, where she remains a professor emerita. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2010.

Research interests Throughout her career, Craig has focused her research on transposable elements, or sequences of DNA that can change position in a genome. Transposons are found in the genomes of nearly all known organisms and gave rise to a large fraction of the human genome.

Since 2021, Craig has been senior vice president of Genetic Engineering and Mobile Elements and chair of the Scientific Advisory Board at SalioGen Therapeutics, a Lexington, Mass., corporation developing new methods of genetic medicine.