James P McCarter

James McCarter is a leading St. Louis-based bioentrepreneur. He was the founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer of Divergence, Inc., a world leader in the application of genomics and informatics to agriculture and infectious disease. The Company’s numerous discoveries led to three products now in development in agrochemistry, veterinary therapeutics, and diagnostics. Divergence raised over $20 million in private equity and venture capital investment and achieved a successful exit in 2011 when it was acquired by Monsanto Company which has advanced its nematicide to phase II in its technology pipeline. Dr. McCarter is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence with Monsanto and BioGenerator. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine and founded the school’s major K-12 science outreach effort, the Young Scientist Program. He is a co-author of over 50 scientific papers and reviews. Dr. McCarter completed his medical and doctoral training at Washington University, receiving the Victor Hamburger Prize in developmental biology. Previously, he graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, receiving the Cannon Award in biology. He is the recipient of the Innovation Award from the Academy of Science of St. Louis and a member of the 2002 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.