Gerald Francis "Jerry" Joyce is an American physician who is the president and a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and was previously the director of the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. He is best known for his work on in vitro evolution, for the discovery of the first DNA enzyme (deoxyribozyme), for his work in discovering potential RNA world ribozymes, and more in general for his work on the origin of life. In 2026, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.