Dr. Cepko is the Bullard Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She received her PhD degree from MIT, working with Philip Sharp, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Richard Mulligan, where she developed some of the first retrovirus vectors. Her current research is focused on the development and diseases of the central nervous system, with an emphasis on the retina. Her laboratory uses molecular and cellular methods to address questions regarding the mechanisms of cell fate determination. They also have been developing gene therapy to prolong vision in genetic forms of blindness.

Dr. Cepko is a member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. She has launched and directed two PhD graduate programs, and is currently serving as the Co-Director of the Leder Human Biology and Translational Medicine Program.