Kayla Mehl

Kayla Mehl, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, focusing on the Ethics and Regulatory Aspects of Pragmatic Clinical Trials. She holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Washington, Seattle. Her work bridges bioethics, social justice, and participatory research methodologies.

Dr. Mehl's research examines how systemic biases and cultural imperialism affect obesity research and healthcare practices. She argues that participatory methodologies can produce more equitable and scientifically rigorous outcomes. Her current projects apply this lens to pragmatic clinical trials through collaborations with the NIH Collaboratory and PRISM Coordinating Center.

Her expertise integrates feminist and political philosophies to critique epistemic injustices in biomedical research. She advocates for democratically driven research agendas that center marginalized populations' experiences.