Dr. Merlin G. Butler was born in 1952 in Atkinson, Nebraska. He received his M.D. from the University of Nebraska in 1978 and his Ph.D. in Medical Genetics from Indiana University in 1984. Butler was Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Regional Genetics Program at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine from 1984 to 1998. He went to the University of Kansas at Kansas City in 1998 to become the Chief of the Section of Medical Genetics and Molecular Medicine at Childrens Mercy Hospitals and Clinics and Professor of Pediatrics.

Butler became a Diplomat of the American Board of Medical Genetics in 1984 and is certified in Clinical Genetics and Clinical Cytogenetics. He became a Founding Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics in 1993. Butler was listed in the 20042005 Guide to Americas Top Physicians by the Consumers Research Council of America.