Karen Rommelfanger

Dr. Karen S. Rommelfanger is a neurotechnology ethicist and strategist. She co-founded the Institute of Neuroethics, the first neuroethics think and do tank, working across sectors to promote trusted neuroscience. Pioneering neuroethics-by-design approaches, she launched the first neuroethics consultancy Ningen Neuroethics Co-Lab. Her early career as PhD-trained neuroscientist evolved into neuroethics research exploring how neuroscience challenges definitions of health across cultures. As a scholar, she maintains professorships at Emory University in Neurology where she founded the Center for Ethics Neuroethics Program and at Georgia Tech’s Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology and Society where she is developing a Neuroethics-by-Design program. Her publications have appeared in high-impact neuroscience and neuroethics journals, and she co-edited the Routledge Handbook of Neuroethics. Dr. Rommelfanger has supported organizations including DARPA, the Council of Europe, the Geneva Science Diplomacy Anticipator, the International Brain Initiative, the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and the World Economic Forum. Focused on applied neuroethics policy, she co-authored the US BRAIN Initiative’s Neuroethics Roadmap; advised on implementation of the OECD Recommendation on Responsible Innovation in Neurotechnology and currently serves on UNESCO’s appointed implementation committee for the Recommendation on the Ethics of Neurotechnology.

Please note that speakers provide their own biographies and headshots. Biographies represent the role of the person at the time of their engagement and are not independently verified by the Milken Institute.