Shobita Parthasarathy

Shobita Parthasarathy is a professor of public policy and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program. Her research focuses on the comparative and international politics and policy related to science and technology. She is interested in how to develop innovation, and innovation policy, to better achieve public interest and social justice goals. Much of her work has focused on the governance of emerging science and technology, particularly those that have uncertain environmental, social, ethical, political, and health implications. She is the author of multiple articles and two books: Building Genetic Medicine: Breast Cancer, Technology, and the Comparative Politics of Health Care (MIT Press 2007; paperback 2012), which influenced the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court case challenging the patentability of human genes; and Patent Politics: Life Forms, Markets, and the Public Interest in the United States and Europe (University of Chicago Press, 2017) which won the Robert K. Merton Prize from the American Sociological Association. Her new research projects focus on the politics of inclusive innovation in international development, with a focus on India, and the development and governance of diagnostic testing for COVID-19, comparing the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, and South Korea. Parthasarathy also directs the Technology Assessment Project, which recently published a report on the use of facial recognition technology in schools. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and master's and PhD from Cornell University.

Learn more on Parthasarathy's personal website.