- Associate Professor, Department of Medical Ethics
- Senior Fellow, Center for Bioethics
- Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics
Dr. Sankar’s degrees are in history of ideas, anthropology, and communications, and she has completed post-doctoral training in health services research. Dr. Sankar’s research and teaching interests include research ethics, ethical and cultural implications of genetic research, qualitative methods, genetics and race, health disparities, and medical confidentiality. She has been the principal investigator of several NIH and foundation-funded grants concerning lay understanding of science, including topics such as genetic technology, medical research, and medical confidentiality. Dr. Sankar is a member of the Ethics Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
She is currently directing NIH/NHGRI funded research projects concerning the expanding interest in race and genetics in the context of criminal forensics and the integration of social values in human microbiome research. Her recent publications include “Genetic Research and Health Disparities” (JAMA Vol. 297, 2004), “Race and ethnicity in genetic research” (AJMG, Part A Vol. 9, 2007), “Forensic genetics and ethical, legal and social implications beyond the clinic” (Nature Genetics Vol. 36, 2004), and “Forensic DNA Phenotyping: Reinforcing Race in Law Enforcement” (What’s the Use of Race? MIT Press 2010). She is a member of the Society of Medical Anthropology.