Civic Minded
Stephanie Mutchler (PhD ’19) has long been interested in policymaking. But it was the COVID-19 pandemic that pushed her to use her scientific expertise for the civic good.
“Seeing how the general public responded to actually witnessing the scientific method in action with all its uncertainty, incorrect hypotheses and conflicting data made me realize that we still have a long way to go in fostering scientific literacy and evidence-based decision-making in this country,” she says.
Mutchler, a postdoctoral researcher in the Renal-Electrolyte Division of the Department of Medicine until this past summer, is among three Pitt Med alumni researchers chosen for the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences’ (AAAS) newest class of policy fellows.
Also selected were R. Anne Stetler (PhD ’06), an assistant professor of neurology who studies the mechanisms underlying stroke pathogenesis, and Amelia Stephens (PhD ’22), until recently a postdoc in microbiology and molecular genetics in Anthony Richardson’s lab.
The three are learning policymaking while sharing their scientific knowledge during yearlong assignments at federal government agencies.
Mutchler was placed at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases’ Office of Scientific Program and Policy Analysis. Her research at Pitt, in Thomas Kleyman’s lab, focused on how hormone signaling and diet can affect kidney function.
Stetler is spending her fellowship at the National Science Foundation’s new Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP). TIP works across the foundation’s directorates with industry and nonprofit partners to accelerate or grow the basic sciences into translation. She first considered applying to the fellowship 17 years ago as a postdoc but says the experience and knowledge she’s gained since has only increased her appreciation for the importance that policy plays in shaping research communities.
Stephens is working in the Office of Advanced Manufacturing at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Her doctoral work focused on the intersection of bacterial genetics, virulence and metabolism in Staphylococcus aureus. She expects during the fellowship she will learn more about how basic science findings are translated into real-world applications and technologies that can be distributed to patients, a connection she sometimes felt was missing in her bench research.
After connecting with Pitt alumni who were past AAAS policy fellows and now working in government, Stephens feels encouraged to follow the same path: “I knew that I wanted to be able to work on something going forward that I could really feel proud of its impact on human health or society.”
