Brian Slaughter, Ph.D., is the Chief Operating Officer at the Stowers Institute. In this role, Slaughter is leading the Institute’s Technology Centers and operations teams, thus driving efficiency and support for Stowers scientific mission.

Slaughter was born in Kansas City and was raised on a farm in Northwest Missouri. After receiving a dual B.A. in chemistry and mathematics from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, in 1999, Slaughter briefly returned to Northwest Missouri to teach science and math before pursuing his graduate work at the University of Kansas. There he studied the biophysics of a calcium signaling protein with Carey Johnson, Ph.D., receiving a Ph.D. in chemistry in 2005. Following this, he pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of former investigator Rong Li, Ph.D., at the Stowers Institute. In 2010, he moved into a role as a Research Advisor, collaborating with Stowers investigators on adapting microscopy methods for use in a wide range of research organisms. In 2015, Slaughter transitioned to Co-Head of the Microscopy Center, then Co-Director of Microscopy, Imaging, and Big Data in 2019, Senior Director of Research Support in March 2022, Vice President of Research Operations with expanded responsibility overseeing the scientific operations teams across the Institute in 2024, prior to his current appointment.

During his two decades at the Institute, Slaughter's primary focus has been on helping advance the research programs of the Principal Investigators’ labs, focusing on teamwork, and innovating and collaborating with the investigators to apply creative technology solutions to accelerate their science.