Catherine Butler, Ph.D., is an associate professor and principal research fellow at the Melbourne Dental School, The University of Melbourne, Australia. Butler has more than 20 years of experience in the molecular microbiology of oral pathobionts, particularly Porphyromonas gingivalis, which is the keystone pathogen of the chronic oral disease periodontitis.

Butler was the recipient of the International Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research Oral Biology Award in 2016, and a 2023 Strategic Grant for Outstanding Women Award from the Melbourne Dental School. She currently leads original research of international significance, investigating bacterial membrane vesicles from oral pathobionts, including P. gingivalis, as causative agents of Alzheimer’s disease and other systemic inflammatory-based diseases.

Butler has a keen interest in developing and supporting emerging researchers, having supervised several undergraduate (honors) and postgraduate (masters and Ph.D.) students to successful completion, as well as mentoring informally and formally within the faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. She was a mentor in ASM's inaugural Future Leaders Mentoring Fellowship, 2022-2024, and is a current member of the diversity, equity and inclusion committee of the Melbourne Dental School. Her passion for DEI is a direct result of her experiences in her career while working full-time for much of her career.