Sammie Harker

Samantha (Sammie) Harker, from Anaheim, California, is pursuing a master’s degree in human genetics and genetic counseling at Stanford School of Medicine. She earned a bachelor’s degree in medical humanities from the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy, as well as a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s and PhD in neuroscience from Arizona State University, where she completed her PhD at the age of 22. As an openly autistic individual, Sammie aspires to advance ethical, genetics-driven precision health approaches for aging autistic adults and address long-standing inequities in genetics and autism research. She plans to extend and translate this work through her clinical training at Stanford. Sammie has received several honors, including the Quad Fellowship, a National Institute of Mental Health Predoctoral Fellowship (1st percentile score), the Autism Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, and designation as a National Institutes of Health Outstanding Scholar in Neuroscience.