Kathy Hudson, Ph.D.

Dr. Kathy Hudson is the founder and Director of the Genetics and Public Policy Center and an Associate Professor in the Berman Bioethics Institute, Institute of Genetic Medicine, and the Department of Pediatrics at The Johns Hopkins University. The Center was established in April 2002 with a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts. Hudson founded the Center to fill an important niche in the science policy landscape and to focus exclusively on public policy issues raised by advances in human genetics. She leads the Center’s efforts to address legal, ethical, and policy issues related to human reproductive genetic technologies, genetic testing quality and oversight, and public engagement in genetic research.

To inform genetic policy decisions, the Center has published a series of analytical reports on the scientific, legal, ethical and policy issues raised by human genetic technologies. The Center also conducts extensive research on public attitudes about emerging genetic technologies and sponsors an array of activities and events to facilitate ongoing discussions about these topics.

Hudson serves on the boards of the Health Privacy Project, the Guttmacher Institute, the Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics and PXE International, the Personalized Healthcare Working Group for the Department of Health and Human Services, the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Social Issues Committee for the American Society of Human Genetics. She has published articles about and is a frequent speaker on issues related to biotechnology, genetics and public policy.

Before founding the Genetics and Public Policy Center, Hudson was the Assistant Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) responsible for communications, legislation, planning and education activities. She provided focus and leadership in public policy and public affairs issues for NHGRI programs including the Human Genome Project, and spearheaded efforts to develop policies to prevent genetic discrimination. Previously, Hudson served as a senior policy analyst in the Department of Health and Human Services and worked on Capitol Hill. She holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.S. in Microbiology from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. in Biology from Carleton College.