President's Council of Advisors on Science & Technology
M. Kathleen Behrens was the speaker at the February 2009 Council meeting, which
focused on personalized medicine. Dr. Behrens served as a member of the President's Council of
Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) from 2001-2009, working on multiple national policy
matters. She chaired PCAST's Subcommittee on Personalized Medicine and led a two-year study that
culminated in the September 2008 report, Priorities for Personalized Medicine. Behrens was a
director of the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) for the National Research
Council from 1997-2005, at which time she participated as a member of the Institute of Medicine
Committee on New Approaches to Early Detection and Diagnosis of Breast Cancer. She was a director of
the National Venture Capital Association from 1993 to 2000. She was a Trustee of the University of
California, Davis Foundation from 1996-2001 and currently is a member of the Advisory Committee for
the J. David Gladstone Institutes. Behrens holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of
California, Davis.
