Jennifer Elisseeff

Jennifer Elisseeff is the F. Stuart Hodgson Department Head of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with an appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. She is the founder of the Translational Tissue Engineering Center at the Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Wilmer Eye Institute, where she was the director from its inception in 2010 until 2023. She is a pioneer in the development and commercial translation of injectable biomaterials for regenerative therapies.

Elisseeff is the first Johns Hopkins faculty member to be elected to all three national academies—the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, and most recently, the National Academy of Science. She serves on the scientific advisory boards of Bausch and Lomb, Kythera Biopharmaceutical, and Cellular Bioengineering Inc. Elisseeff has received numerous awards including the Carnegie Mellon Young Alumni Award, Arthritis Investigator Award from the Arthritis Foundation, Yasuda Award from the Society of Physical Regulation in Medicine and Biology, and was named by Technology Review magazine as a top innovator under 35 in 2002 and top 10 technologies to change the future. In 2008, she was elected a fellow in the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a Young Global Leader in the World Economic Forum. She has published more than 200 articles, book chapters, and patent applications and given more than 130 national and international invited lectures.

Elisseeff received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University and a PhD in medical engineering from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. After doctoral studies, she was a Fellow at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences Pharmacology Research Associate Program where she worked in the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. In 2001, she became an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. In 2004, Elisseeff cofounded Cartilix Inc., a startup that translated adhesive and biomaterial technologies for treating orthopedic disease, acquired by Biomet Inc in 2009. In 2009, she also founded Aegeria Soft Tissue and Tissue Repair, new startups focused on soft tissue regeneration and wound healing.