About Sammy

Sammy Katta is a science policy analyst. She recently finished a Genetics and Public Policy Fellowship with the American Society of Human Genetics, Senate HELP Committee, and National Human Genome Research Institute. She received her Ph.D in Neuroscience from Stanford in 2019, researching the proteins that act as first responders in the sense of touch. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 2011 with a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology, a minor in Global Poverty and Practice, and a desire to work on issues with societal implications.

At Stanford, Sammy helped found the group NeuWrite West for students who want to make science understandable to the public. In addition to helping with the group’s workshops, blog, and public events, she spearheaded an initiative in which NeuWrite editors work with early neuroscience graduate students on writing articles to explain recent neuroscience findings to a general audience. She also co-founded the Generation Sci conference to both teach community college students about careers in scientific research and train graduate students across the sciences to present their work in a TED-style talk.

She has worked both on her own and with Science Action Committee to engage scientists and engineers in political action by running phone banks and Letter-to-the-Editor workshops, organizing people for the March for Science, organizing a voter registration drive, and creating the #FundSillyScience photo series.