Aaron Panofsky

Aaron Panofsky joined the faculty of UCLA in January of 2008 as an Assistant Professor of Public Policy with a joint appointment in the Center for Society and Genetics. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from New York University in 2006 and was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Scholar at UC Berkeley from 2006 through 2007. Panofsky’s main research interest is in the sociology of science and knowledge with a special focus on the field of genetics. His book project is an analysis of the causes and consequences of controversy in the field of behavioral genetics. A second major project is investigating how patient advocate groups are seeking to affect the research process in the medical genetics of rare disorders. Of particular interest are the means by which patient advocates and scientists can form successful, mutually beneficial collaborative partnerships. These and other projects fit with his abiding science policy interests in the governance of science and technology and the relationship between expertise and democracy.