Jane Koretz graduated from Swarthmore College with High Honors in 1969, and received her Ph.D. in Biophysics from The University of Chicago in 1974.  After a post-doc at King’s College, London, she joined the faculty of the Biology Department at RPI, where she rose to the rank of Professor.  She helped to found the Biochemistry and Biophysics Program at RPI in the early 1990s, and was successful in obtaining accreditation for awarding the Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics ten years later.  She retired from RPI in the summer of 2013, and was awarded Professor Emerita status. 

Her research studies on aspects of the human visual process resulted in long-term support from the National Eye Institute of NIH; well over 100 papers and book chapters, including a Scientific American article; a research Fulbright Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where she was named an honorary research associate (1992-2004); and a Ruth L. Kirschstein Senior Fellowship (2008-2010).  She also served on NIH study sections continuously from the mid-1980s until her retirement.  She holds two patents, one in collaboration with four colleagues, and one in her own name.   She is currently participating in research on the proteomics of the retina, particularly age-related macular degeneration. 

In addition to publications directly related to her research, she is the author of a number of essays on science, ethics, and humanism, and the co-author of several articles for the American Association of University Professors.   These ancillary interests led her to the joint Union Graduate College-Mt. Sinai School of Medicine program in Bioethics from which she received her M.S. (Bioethics) in 2014, specializing in Research Ethics.   She is currently a member of RPI’s Institutional Review Board.