Samira Kiani
Samira Kiani is a genetic engineer, science communicator, and multimedia producer. An artist at heart, her work is dedicated to fostering science that is soulful, self-aware, human-centered, and informed by the collective wisdom of society. Kiani is an associate professor of pathology and bioengineering at University of Pittsburgh, where her research is focused on improving the safety of CRISPR gene editing technology for the treatment of disease. She started working in the area of genetic engineering in 2010 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and started her own research lab at Arizona State University in 2016. Her work increasingly extends beyond the laboratory, with a podcast, virtual reality experiences, and theatrical productions in the works. Make People Better, her feature-length documentary about the ethical perils of human genetic engineering.