Want to join us? Please contact Dr. Rommelfanger with your CV and a statement of interest on how you’d like to plug into an existing project or collaborate on a related one.
Karen Rommelfanger, PhD
Lab Director director [at] institute of neuroethics [dot] org
LinkedIn Short bio: I find gaps and build bridges.
Dr. Karen S. Rommelfanger received her PhD in neuroscience and received postdoctoral training in neuroscience and neuroethics. Her research explores how evolving neuroscience and neurotechnologies challenge societal definitions of disease and medicine. Dr. Rommelfanger is an adjunct Associate Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She is the founder of the Neuroethics Program Director at Emory University’s Center for Ethics, and former Senior Associate Editor at the American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience . She is actively engaged with the neuroscience community and is the first neuroethicist to be called to the editorial advisory board of Neuron (one of the highest impact neuroscience journals). Dr. Rommelfanger is also an appointed member of the board of directors of the International Neuroethics Society and is founding board member of the Functional Neurological Disorder Society. She is dedicated to cross-cultural work in neuroethics and also serves as ethicist to the China-India Mental Health Alliance and is co-chair of the Neuroethics Workgroup of the International Brain Initiative. She is an appointed member to the NIH BRAIN Initiative Neuroethics Working Group and was ambassador to the EU Human Brain Project’s Ethics Advisory Board. She also served as Neuroethics Subgroup member of the Advisory Committee to the Director at NIH tasked to design a roadmap for BRAIN 2025. She is a member of the Global Futures Council of the World Economic Forum. A key part of her work is fostering communication across multiple stakeholders in neuroscience. She is a frequent contributor and commentator in popular media. She is the new director and CEO of the world’s first think tank wholly dedicated to neuroethics, the Institute of Neuroethics (IoNx).
Zone Li
Research Assistant
ryan [dot] li [at] emory [dot] edu
Zone Li is a student in Quantitative Sciences with a concentration Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program at Emory University. Zone’s current work is related to mapping the creative process of entrepreneurs. He is interested in exploring the intersection of cultural swirl theory, moral imagination, and neurotechnology innovation. His research focuses on using applied machine learning and data science methodologies to identify trends and gaps in neuroethics conversations that can be utilized as a tool for advocacy, public engagement, and policy.
Ankita Moss
Researcher
LinkedIn ankita [dot] moss [at] emory [dot] edu
Ankita Moss is a graduate of the Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program at Emory University. She has an interest in neurotechnology start-ups and is passionate about social entrepreneurship, medicine, women’s health, social justice in neuro/AI, and civic engagement. Ankita’s research focuses on assessing the attitudes of neuroentrepreneurs on existing policy and regulations with particular interest in understanding needs for neuroethics recommendations and guidelines.
Linzie Taylor
Directed Study Fellow
linzie [dot] Taylor [at] emory [dot] edu
Linzie Taylor is a first year graduate student in the Neuroscience Program at Emory. Linzie’s aims to combine her training in neuroscientific research with Black Feminist Thought with the hopes of challenging traditional Western thought that dominates science. Her current work explores how adopting a more relational oriented definition of personhood, like that of Ubuntu, as opposed to the traditional rational oriented definition, like that of western individualism, would alleviate some biases present throughout the innovation process.
Alumni
Celeste Fong, MA
Master of Bioethics Research Fellow
Celeste Fong is currently a clinical research coordinator at UCSF in the Winston Chiong Decision Lab. Building on her work from the Rommelfanger Lab, she now coordinates a project observing and interviewing patients, caregivers, and providers in order to identify and respond to concerns regarding the ethics of closed-loop deep brain stimulation.
Ryan Purcell, PhD
Neuroethics Directed Study Fellow
Dr. Ryan Purcell is currently a postdoctoral fellow. His current focus is the generation of neurons from patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells for morphological and signaling pathway analysis. He hopes to better understand the consequences of this genetic variant and may also provide important insights into the molecular basis of schizophrenia. Building on his neuroethics training, he continues to explore the ethical implications of neural organoids and is the Managing Editor of AJOB Neuroscience.
Funders and Collaborators
We’re grateful to our collaborators and funders who make this work not only possible, but also more fun and worthwhile.
Rommelfanger Lab 