Internal Advisory Board
J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD
President, University of Pennsylvania for the Health System
J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, was named President of the University of Pennsylvania in March 2025 after serving as Interim President since December 2023. He previously served as Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and Dean of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine since July 1, 2011. Before coming to Penn Medicine, Dr. Jameson was Dean of the Feinberg School of Medicine and Vice President of Medical Affairs at Northwestern University, positions he held since 2007. He joined Northwestern University Medical School in 1993 as chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Molecular Medicine, a position he held for seven years.
A prolific physician-scientist and writer, Dr. Jameson has been a pioneer in molecular medicine in the field of endocrinology. His research has focused on the genetic basis of hormonal disorders and he is the author of more than 350 scientific articles and chapters. His work has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Genetics, Science, and the Journal of Clinical Investigation. He is Editor-in-Chief of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, the most widely used medical text worldwide, and previously served as co-editor of Jameson and DeGroot’s Endocrinology.
Dr. Jameson received his medical degree with honors and a doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of North Carolina in 1981. He completed clinical training in internal medicine and endocrinology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD
Vice Provost for Global Initiatives; Professor and Chair, Department of Medical Ethics
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel is the Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at Penn and the Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine. He is the Diane v.S. Levy and Robert M. Levy University Professor and Co-Director of the Health Transformation Institute. From January 2009 to January 2011, he served as special advisor for health policy to the director of the Office of Management and Budget in the White House. From 1997 to 2011, he was chair of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health.
An influential scholar and policy expert, Dr. Emanuel works across disciplines and continents on globally significant issues. A breast oncologist by training, he has played a leading role in reforming both end-of-life care and the medical ethics of clinical research. He has also contributed to systemic change in health-care policy, which culminated in the landmark Affordable Care Act.
At Penn, Dr. Emanuel’s leadership guides the University’s vision of global understanding, engagement and impact. On campus, he shepherded the design of Perry World House, which engages faculty and students from all 12 schools as well as eminent international scholars and policymakers. Off campus, Dr. Emanuel is spearheading Penn’s global reach by developing hubs in China, East Asia, India and Africa.
Dr. Emanuel received his MD from Harvard Medical School and his Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard University. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital and his oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Jonathan Epstein, MD
Dean, Perelman School of Medicine and Executive Vice President, University of Pennsylvania for the Health System
Jonathan Epstein, MD, serves as Dean of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine and Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System. Together these two entities make up Penn Medicine, an $11.9B enterprise dedicated to excellence in the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and patient care.
As the The Robert G. Dunlop Professor and, most recently, as the Executive Vice Dean and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Epstein has played a pivotal role in shaping the Penn Medicine’s trajectory as a national and international leader in discovery science and clinical research. He has also served as Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer for the health system since February 2021. From 2006 to 2015, he served as chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and Scientific Director of the Penn Cardiovascular Institute. He played an instrumental role as a founding co-director of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine in 2007. Dr. Epstein’s own research program has focused on the molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular development and implications for understanding and treating human disease. His group has been at the forefront of utilizing animal models of congenital heart disease to determine genetic and molecular pathways required for cardiac morphogenesis, with implications for pediatric and adult cardiovascular disease. Stem cell, angiogenesis and epigenetic studies have had direct implications for the development of new therapeutic agents for heart failure and myocardial infarction.
Dr. Epstein graduated from Harvard College in 1983, Harvard Medical School in 1988, and completed his Residency and Fellowship in Medicine and Cardiology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he also completed an HHMI Postdoctoral Fellowship in Genetics.
Emma Meagher, MD
Senior Vice Dean and Chief Clinical Research Officer, Senior Associate Vice Provost for Human Research, and Associate Dean, PSOM Master’s and Certificate Programs
Dr. Emma Meagher, MD, serves as Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Dr. Meagher's research interest is in the development of novel therapeutics in dyslipidemia. Her clinical practice focused on cardiovascular risk modification, with an emphasis on dyslipidemia management, hypertension, and women's cardiovascular health.
In her roles as Senior Vice Dean and Chief Clinical Research Officer, and as Senior Associate Vice Provost for Human Research, Dr. Meagher oversees the institution’s clinical research infrastructure and its portfolio, and sets the strategy for Penn Medicine’s clinical research enterprise. In her roles asAssociate Dean for PSOM Master’s and Certificate Programs, and as Director of Translational Research Education, Dr. Meagher is responsible for the rapidly growing portfolio of professional education opportunities provided by the Perelman School of Medicine..
Dr. Meagher graduated cum laude with her medical doctorate degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland, and completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, and Pharmacology.
John Swartley, PhD, MBA
Chief Innovation Officer, Penn Center for Innovation
John S. Swartley, MBA, PhD is the Chief Innovation Officer at the University of Pennsylvania responsible for implementing and leading a University-wide Innovation agenda in partnership with stakeholders across the institution. In this capacity, he works closely with Penn’s leadership and Deans, as well as key external partners, to help ensure that Penn continues to maintain its world-class status as an innovative leader in the field of technology development, translation, and commercialization. Dr. Swartley previously served for nearly a decade as Associate Vice Provost for Research and the Managing Director of the Penn Center for Innovation (PCI) at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) where he led a multi-faceted team that focuses on new product development, corporate partnerships, technology licensing and new venture creation based on faculty expertise and discoveries made at Penn.
Prior to joining Penn in 2007, Dr. Swartley served as Senior Vice President and General Partner of BCM Technologies (BCMT), the venture capital investment subsidiary of Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Swartley joined BCMT in 2003 from the Yale University Office of Cooperative Research where he was Associate Director of the Medical Campus Office. Over the course of his career, Dr. Swartley has facilitated thousands of commercialization and research partnership agreements and has participated in the formation and oversight of hundreds of university spin-out companies that have collectively raised several billion dollars of investment capital.
Dr. Swartley holds a BS in Biology from Bates College, an MBA from the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University, and a PhD in Microbial & Molecular Genetics from Emory University.
Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil
Director, Abramson Cancer Center, Vice Dean for Cancer Programs, PSOM, Vice President for Cancer Programs, UPHS, and John H. Glick, MD, Abramson Cancer Center’s Director Professor
Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, is the Director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the John H. Glick, MD, Abramson Cancer Center’s Director Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine. He is Vice Dean for Cancer Programs at PSOM and Vice President of Cancer Programs for the University of Pennsylvania Health System. He serves as Lead Physician for the Cancer Service Line of the Health System.
Dr. Vonderheide is a distinguished scientist and clinician who has deciphered mechanisms of cancer immune surveillance and developed novel cancer therapeutics, particularly in pancreatic cancer. He is well-recognized for driving the development of agonist CD40 antibodies, now in later stage clinical trials as a potential immune therapy for cancer. Dr. Vonderheide discovered telomerase as a universal tumor antigen and has led efforts to develop telomerase vaccination for both therapy and the prevention of cancer in healthy individuals. He has helped lead a team to show that stereotactic radiation therapy in combination with dual checkpoint blockade represents a synergistic path for immune activation in cancer. Dr. Vonderheide merges his clinical investigations with rigorous studies in mouse models or other laboratory systems
Dr. Vonderheide graduated from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and went on to Harvard Medical School. He completed training in internal medicine and medical oncology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.