Dr. Megan J. Palmer is an expert and leader in strategies to shape the responsible development of critical and emerging technologies with a focus on biotechnology. Most recently she served as Senior Director of Public Impact at Ginkgo Bioworks where she led translation of the company’s commitment to care how their platform for synthetic biology and biosecurity was used into an operational strategy. She also serves as the staff designee to chair of the U.S. National Security Committee for Emerging Biotechnology.

Previously, Dr. Palmer held multiple roles at Stanford University, including founder and director of the Bio Policy & Leadership in Society (Bio.Polis) Initiative. She also led biosecurity initiatives at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford, where she was a Senior Research Scholar and William J. Perry Fellow in International Security, and remains an affiliate. In these roles, and as an adjunct professor of Bioengineering, she led interdisciplinary research on the conception and management of security as technologies become accessible, and led programs on guiding innovation to serve public interests.

Dr. Palmer has led and advised many other organizations across the public and private sector. Among these roles, she co-chairs the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Synthetic Biology and for a decade she led social responsibility programs for the international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition. She also served as Deputy Director of Policy and Practices for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (Synberc), and serves on the board of directors of Revive & Restore.

Dr. Palmer received her Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from M.I.T. and a B.Sc.E. in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University, Canada.