Member Spotlight: Tamra Lysaght, PhD

Tamra Lysaght, PhD
National University of Singapore, Singapore

Hometown
Townsville, Australia

Current Residence
Singapore

Graduate Degree
BSc (Biotechnology)/Bbus

Postdoc Work
PhD History & Philosophy of Science

Current Position
Assistant Professor, Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore, Singapore

• What interested you in the Lawrence Goldstein Science Policy Fellowship Program?

  I was most interested in the opportunity to learn how to impact national and international policymaking from leaders in the field and to expand my professional networks.

• How do you hope to benefit from the policy fellowship program?

  I hope to benefit with an expanded professional network and gain knowledge of how to achieve international policy impacts with my research.

• What is the current focus of your research, and what do you find most rewarding about your work?

  The focus on my research is on the ethics and governance of translational stem cell research and regenerative medicine. This covers clinical research and innovation with stem cell-based interventions, as well as the direct-to-consumer industry selling putative cell therapies. I am currently collaborating with an interdisciplinary group of investigators and advocacy groups in Australia developing guidance to support shared decision-making for patients accessing innovative cell and gene-based therapies. I hope to adapt this guidance more broadly into science policies for international contexts.

• How would you explain the significance of this work to a lay audience?

  The availability of therapies or treatments with stem cells that are both safe and effective is quite narrow and limited to very specific disease types and conditions. While the safety and efficacy of promising stem cell-based treatments are currently being studied in clinical trials, there are also many websites and businesses out there claiming to be able to treat all sorts of ailments with so-called ‘stem cells’ (we actually do not know what they are using). This research will help patients make informed decisions about the various options with their doctor or GP that are in their best interests.

• Do you have research interests outside of the policy arena?

  Yes, I am an empirical bioethics scholar, which means I employ social science methods and deliberative democratic processes to inform bioethical research questions. These questions are frequently directed towards policymaking but they also inform ethical and normative analyses that are purely academic in orientation.

• What led you to become involved with science policy?

  Bioethics has long played an important role in science policy-making. I first became interested in science policy with my doctoral research, which was supported with a scholarship from the Australian (National) Stem Cell Centre. This research examined how science is employed rhetorically in policy disputes to support moral arguments and assert legitimacy in public discourse.

• What is the most exciting aspect of your work?

  Doing academic research that has practical outcomes is important to me and seeing my research outcomes being translated into policies that positively impacts scientific research and practice is exciting.

• What guidance would you share in talking with trainees interested in pursuing science policy?

  Choose an area of science that you feel passionately about as it will motivate you to achieve your goals.

• Do you have any mentors or individuals who have inspired you in your policy work?

  I have many long-term inspirations for my policy-orientated research but to mention a few names familiar to the ISSCR membership; Profs Jeremy Sugarman, Robin Lovell-Badge, Christine Wells and Megan Munsie.

• How do you spend your free time?

  I am a keen golfer and try to play every week, although it is an expensive sport in Singapore so cannot play as much as I would like to. I also spend time in the gym and I am a hopeless slave to a dog.

• What is something your peers would be surprised to learn about you?

  I went to university as an adult learner to enter the biotech industry and never envisioned that I would end up in academia.

• What do you most value about your membership and involvement with the ISSCR?

  The network of scientific experts and professionals who help keep be abreast of the state of the art in stem cell science.