Margaret ("Peggy") A. Goodell (born March 23, 1965) is an American scientist working in the field of stem cell research.

[5] She is the director of the Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Center, and is the Chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.

She has also served on several committees, including as the chair of Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine for the American Society of Hematology.

Goodell began her education at Wesleyan University and moved on to the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, England, for her final years, where she received her B.Sc.

[11] In 1997, Goodell joined the faculty of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, in the Departments of Pediatrics and Molecular and Human Genetics.

This was an important conceptual advance in the field that has created increased understanding of how the immune system can activate HSCs, especially using interferons.

[21] She has uncovered how the enzyme de novo DNA methyltransferase, DNMT3A — one of the most important tumor suppressors in the blood — contributes to stem cell self-renewal and differentiation in aging, inflammation, and cancer.

[23] DNMT3A mutations contribute heavily to leukemia development and clonal hematopoiesis, and have come to be understood as the most important tumor suppressor in the hematopoietic system.

[24] The Goodell lab investigates the role of DNMT3A in normal and malignant hematopoiesis, and has discovered a new genome feature termed “methylation canyons.”[25] More than 400 of her peer-reviewed primary research papers have been published in journals including Nature[26] and Blood.

The Goodell Laboratory, which has about 15 students and post-doctoral fellows, studies the effects of stresses, including infection, toxicity, and age, on the behavior of HSCs.

Goodell grew up in Bryan, Ohio with sisters Marian (a founding member and CEO of the Burning Man Project[32]), Martha (a management consultant), and Melly (a physician).