Tomoko Y. Steen, Ph.D.

Research Specialist (Genome, Asian Science &Technology Policy)

Science, Technology and Business Division, the Library of Congress

& Adjunct Faculty, Department of History, Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Tomoko Steen is the Genome and Asian S&T Policy Research Specialist at the Science, Technology and Business Division of the Library of Congress (LC), and Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins University’s Department of History.

Dr. Steen went to LC from the George Washington University’s Center for Recent History of Science where she was invited to have a Research Professorship by then Director of the Center, Professor Horace Freeland Judson.   Prior to the Research Professor at the George Washington University, she was a joint Faculty at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology and the Department of the History of Science.  For postdoctoral research, she worked on a project to investigate mechanisms of antibiotic registrant strains at Emory University/CDC (under Professor Bruce Levin) and mechanisms of molecular evolutionary clock hypothesis (under Professor Richard Lewontin) with her own NIH Postdoctoral Research Grant. 

She has her master’s degree and Ph.D. from Science &Technology Studies (Science Policy, Biomedical Ethics, History and Sociology of Science) from the Department of Science and Technology Studies, and Ph.D. in Genetics from the Section of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and had a joint appointment at the Asian Studies at Cornell University.  While registered as a Ph.D. student at Cornell, she was invited to spend one year at Japan’s National Institute of Genetics as a Visiting Scientist from Drs. Tomoko Ohta and Motoo Kimura (founders of “neutral theory of molecular evolution”).  Dr. Steen obtained her master’s degree in Clinical Pharmacology from Kyushu University (Fukuoka, Japan).  Then she obtained Japanese Federal Pharmacist license and New York State Pharmacist license and practiced as a Clinical Pharmacologist (bed side pharmacologist) at Tokyo University Medical School Hospital as well as in New York. 

Dr. Steen has taught and conducted research on variety of topics including biomedical ethics, comparative eugenics, molecular evolution, gender and science, pharmacogenomics, biological and social effects of atomic bombs, biological, nuclear and chemical weapons history, Japanese modern history of science and technology, and history of infectious disease.

She is also an Associate Editor for the Journal of Heredity (Oxford University Press) and also serve as a reviewer for the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.   She served as a chair for variety of academic committees, and currently serves as the Chair for the Asian Science Forum-a study group among science attaches from Asian Embassies in Washington, and directors of the US Agencies (White House, State Department, NSF, and LC).