Dr. Daphne Oluwaseun Martschenko is an Assistant Professor at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. Her scholarship identifies novel ways to examine and enhance the ethical and socially responsible conduct, translation, and interpretation of human genetic research. 

Daphne is passionate about fostering public and community engagement with controversial scientific research. She has appeared in the New York Times and on numerous podcasts including Freakonomics Radio. You can also find her work in outlets such as Scientific American and The Conversation. In 2023, Daphne was named one of 10 Scientists to Watch by ScienceNews, and in 2024 she was recognized by Scientist Spotlights Initiative as a science role model to students learning science.

Daphne is co-author of the forthcoming book What We Inherit. Over the past decade, the field of human genetics has produced an extraordinary range of discoveries—including the refinement of polygenic scores, which use a person’s DNA to estimate their likelihood of developing a trait or disease. But are these new technologies ready to leave the research lab and be deployed in schools, fertility clinics, and the wider world? Daphne, and her friend a colleague Sam Trejo, offer different perspectives on the societal impact of the rapidly unfolding DNA revolution. Trejo, a sociologist and expert on the complex ways people’s genes influence their life’s trajectory, believes that new genomic tools—if used thoughtfully—can improve society; Martschenko, a bioethicist who specializes in the thorny social issues raised by biomedical advances, is more cautious. They debate both the risks and the opportunities posed by such new technologies as at-home genetic tests and polygenic embryo selection—all while engaging in a wide-ranging dialogue on ideology, biology, and social inequality.

In a former life, Dr. Martschenko was an internationally competitive rower, representing the United States at the Under-23 World Championships twice. She became the first Black person to ever compete in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race in 2015 and was President of Cambridge University Boat Club in 2018. Nowadays when she’s not investigating the ethical, legal, and social implications of human genetics, you can find her at the yoga studio, in the garden with her husband Ali, or with their cat Sassy.