Natalie Kofler

Natalie Kofler is a trained molecular biologist who now works at the intersection of science and society. Her work is fueled by a desire to transform scientific culture and make science more representative of the communities it’s meant to serve. Towards this goal, she focuses on improving scientific training and curriculum, cultivating public dialogue and engagement, and creating more just and rigorous decision-making processes to steer responsible development of emerging technologies. Dr. Kofler leads curriculum development and is a strategic advisor and lecturer for the Scientific Citizenship Initiative at Harvard Medical School. She is also the founding director of Editing Nature, a global initiative to steer responsible development and deployment of genetic technologies. She is a leading voice in CRISPR and synthetic biology ethics and governance, authoring numerous publications on the topic, serving on expert panels, and contributing to UN mandated documents. Her work has been highlighted by The New York Times, Science, Nature, NPR, CBC radio, Pacific Standard Magazine, and National Geographic. She served as a visiting fellow at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, the Levenick Resident Scholar in Sustainability at the University of Illinois and a visiting scholar at The Hastings Center. She teaches Environmental Ethics and Justice at the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Harvard Medical School. She received her PhD in cellular, molecular, and medical biosciences and M.Sc. in human nutrition and metabolic studies from Columbia University and her B.Sc. in human anatomy and cell biology from McGill University.

---