A lawyer and bioethicist by training, Alta Charo has decades of experience in helping to formulate and inform science policy on new and emerging technologies, including stem cells, cloning, CRISPR, and chimeras. The Warren P. Knowles Professor Emerita of Law and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, she served on President Clinton’s National Bioethics Advisory Commission, was a member of President Obama’s transition team, was an advisor for the Food and Drug Administration, and served on more than a dozen study committees for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 

In the fourth episode of our Science Policy IRL series, Alta joins Issues contributing editor Molly Galvin to explore how science policy can and does impact people’s lives in real and profound ways. She also describes what it’s like to be one of the only non-scientists at the science policy table, how helping a close friend who died of ALS continues to inspire her work, and why science policy can help us become techno optimists. 

Is there something about science policy you’d like us to explore? Let us know by emailing us at [email protected], or by tagging us on social media with the hashtag #SciencePolicyIRL.

Resources:

National Academies Collection on Stem Cell Research

Institute of Medicine. 2005. Review of the HIVNET 012 Perinatal HIV Prevention Study

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and National Academy of Medicine. 2023. Toward Equitable Innovation in Health and Medicine: A Framework

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Human Genome Editing: Science, Ethics, and Governance

The Issues Interview: Alta Charo

Previous episodes of Science Policy IRL

Zach Pirtle Explores Ethics for Mars Landings

Apurva Dave Builds Connections Between National Security and Climate

Quinn Spadola Develops Nanotechnology With Soft Power