Nonpartisan Public Policy Institute • Biotechnology, Healthcare & Ethics
Leadership Advisory Boards Podcasts Site Index
Women’s Bioethics Project Public Policy & Bioethics Research Institute
Public Policy & Bioethics Think Tank

It’s not Sci-Fi. It’s real life.
It’s your life.

The rapid advance of biotechnology is outpacing our ability as a society to absorb the effect it will have on our lives. The Women’s Bioethics Project bridges scholarship and policymaking—ensuring that women’s voices, health concerns, and lived experiences shape ethical policy in healthcare, reproductive technology, and neuroscience.

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Featured Initiative & Publication

Progress in Bioethics: Science, Policy, and Politics

Published by MIT Press and supported by the Women’s Bioethics Project, examining the intersection of social justice, empirical science, and public policy in modern bioethics—including Kathryn Hinsch’s chapter, “Bioethics: The New Conservative Crusade.”

Read the Publication Overview → Whitepaper: Bioethics & Public Policy (PDF) → Leadership: Kathryn Hinsch, Founder & President →
Research Programs

Core Policy & Research Areas

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Policy Framework

Bioethics & Public Policy

Examining how think tanks, national bioethics commissions, and international bodies shape laws governing emerging science and medicine.

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Healthcare Equity

Women’s Health

Investigating clinical research inclusion, longevity and aging, commercialized cosmetic medicine, and FDA device safety standards.

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Biotechnology

Reproductive Technologies

Evaluating assisted reproduction, IVF screening, gestational surrogacy, stem cell research, cloning bans, and human germline modification.

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Brain Science

Neuroethics & Mind Matters

Addressing the ethical, legal, and social implications of neuroimaging, cognitive enhancement, and personhood with leading neuroethicists.

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Analysis & Public Engagement

Featured Whitepapers, Forums & Initiatives

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Policy Paper • Reproductive Ethics

Worldwide Reproductive Cloning Bans: Misusing “Human Dignity”

An analysis of state, national, and international efforts to ban human cloning and how vague definitions of “human dignity” threaten scientific inquiry and reproductive autonomy.

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Medical Ethics • Whitepaper

Bad Doc, Greedy Doc? Cosmetic Procedures in Core Practice

With 91% of cosmetic procedures performed on women, what are the ethical implications when OB-GYNs and primary care physicians add retail cosmetic treatments to their practices?

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Student Scholar Forum

Can We Screen IVF Patients? & Intersex Ethics

Featuring emerging bioethics scholars from the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University on clinical responsibility in IVF and gender verification in athletics.

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Literature & Public Policy

The Women’s Bioethics Project Book Club

Connecting readers with curated fiction and non-fiction—from Margaret Atwood and Kazuo Ishiguro to Jodi Picoult and Liza Mundy—paired with 20-question bioethical discussion kits.

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Audio & Interviews

“The Scientist & the Ethicist” Podcast Series

Dialogues with R. Alta Charo, Marcy Darnovsky, Rosemarie Tong, Michael Yesley, Linda MacDonald Glenn, Judy Illes, and Françoise Baylis on genetics and brain science.

Listen & Read Transcripts →
Public Testimony • Governance

State Legislative Board & UNESCO IBC Testimony

Partnering with state legislators nationwide and testifying before the FDA and UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee to ensure women’s health priorities are represented.

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Institute Governance & Scholars

Leadership & National Advisory Boards

About Our Leadership →
Kathryn Hinsch
Founder & Board President

Kathryn M. Hinsch, MS

Former Senior Director of Marketing at Microsoft and founder of the Women’s Bioethics Project, bringing together ethicists, scientists, legal scholars, and policymakers to advance women’s perspectives in bioethics.

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Scholars, Clinicians & Policy Leaders

Advisory Boards & Founding Scholars

Guided by leading voices in law, medicine, philosophy, and public policy across our West Coast and East Coast Advisory Boards, Founding Scholars, and Pro Bono Legal Counsel.

West Coast Board → | East Coast Board → | Founding Scholars → | Pro Bono Counsel →