Kate Saylor

Public Policy and Bioethics
kwsaylor@live.unc.edu
Website

Kate is a Ph.D. student in public policy, focusing on ethical issues in genetics research and genetic medicine. She has a B.A. in biology, psychology, and music from Macalester College, and an M.S. in neuroscience from Oregon Health and Sciences University, OHSU. She won the award for the best masters thesis at OHSU for her work on the receptor cells of the inner ear. Kate then moved to DC to work on science policy at the National Institutes of Health, where she contributed to the development and implementation of research policies related to genomics, data sharing, precision medicine, and informed consent. These projects helped shape her current research interests in bioethics and science policy.

Kate’s dissertation explores fairness issues in genetic medicine through three projects: 1) identifying factors associated with underutilization of genetic testing in high-risk patients, 2) developing a cost-effectiveness analysis simulation model of a multi-gene screening panel, and 3) exploring philosophical critiques of cost-effectiveness analysis in the context of genetic screening. Kate is an instructor for the First Year Seminar “Science and Society”, a member of the Royster Society of Fellows at UNC, a graduate fellow in the Parr Center for Ethics, and a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.