As assistant director of the Salk Institute's Stem Cell Core Facility, Leah Boyer directs day-to-day operations in the Core, coordinates scientific collaborations, consults with stem-cell Core users on project development, and oversees the STEM Core's independent research projects.

Leah joined the STEM Core in 2014 with almost a decade of stem-cell research experience, which began by maintaining pluripotency and pioneering hematopoietic differentiation at Harvard Stem Cell Institute's Stem Cell Core under the supervision of George Q. Daley. For her graduate work in the laboratory of Fred H. Gage, Leah established a human stem-cell-based model of neuro-inflammation that she used to identify novel compounds for the treatment of neuro-degenerative disease.

Leah holds a BS degree in Biological Chemistry from Bates College, in Lewiston, Maine; and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from the University of California, San Diego.