Laura Hercher is a genetic counselor and the Director of Student Research at the Sarah Lawrence College Joan H. Marks Graduate Program in Human Genetics, where her teaching and research focus on ethical, legal and social issues in genomic medicine. As a journalist and commentator, she has written about genetics and society for a wide range of audiences, in publications including Scientific American, the MIT Technology Review, the Nation Magazine and the New York Times. For her leadership in the field, Laura was the 2024 recipient of the Nathalie Weissberger Paul National Achievement Award from the National Society of Genetic Counselors. Currently, she is working on a book examining the
implications of current trends in the use of reproductive genetic medicine, tentatively entitled "The Ghettoization of Genetic Disease."