Jenny Reardon named a fellow of The Hastings Center

Head shot of Jenny Reardon
Jenny Reardon (Photo by Melissa De Witte)

Jenny Reardon, professor of sociology and the founding director of the Science and Justice Research Center, has been named a fellow of The Hastings Center, a leader in the field of bioethics.

The Hastings Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of research scholars located on the Hudson River north of New York City. Founded in 1969, it brings together scholars from across the disciplines to address ethical questions in medicine, science, and technology with a goal of informing policy, practice, and public understanding.

Reardon is one of 12 new fellows announced today (Jan. 22), joining a group of more than 200 accomplished scholars. In its announcement, The Hastings Center said fellows are recognized for their "uncommon insight and impact in areas of critical concern to the Center–how best to understand and manage the inevitable values questions, moral uncertainties, and societal effects that arise as a consequence of advances in the life sciences, the need to improve health and health care for people of all ages, and mitigation of human impact on the natural world."

Reardon is the author of two books about genomics: Race to the Finish: Identity and Governance in an Age of Genomics and The Postgenomic Condition: Ethics, Justice, Knowledge After the Genome. She has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including from the National Science Foundation, Max Planck Institute, Humboldt Foundation, Brocher Foundation, and the United States Congressional Committee on Science, Space and Technology. A strong voice in the public dialogue about genomics, Reardon is regularly asked to speak and advise on the relations between science, medicine and society.