CHANEL MATNEYPhD

NEUROSCIENCE · BIOETHICS · SCIENCE POLICY

Science moves forward.
Let’s think about
where it takes us.

I’m Chanel Matney, a neuroscientist and science policy professional focused on the human stakes of emerging technology.

Explore my work ↗More about me ↓
HEALTH AI   /   NEUROTECHNOLOGY   /   HUMAN AGENCY
Professional portrait of Chanel Matney
Chanel Matney, PhDScientist. Strategist. Convenor.
A FOUNDATION ACROSS DISCIPLINESNeuroscience×Public policy×Bioethics

01 / THE PERSPECTIVE

At the intersection
of discovery
and responsibility.

The questions that interest me begin where technical possibility meets human consequence.

My background spans neuroscience research, science and technology policy, and bioethics. I bring these perspectives together to connect evidence, people, and the decisions that shape our collective future.

As Program Manager for UCSF Bioethics, I support interdisciplinary work in research, education, and public engagement. My emerging focus is the governance of health AI and neurotechnology—especially what these tools mean for human agency, judgment, and capability.

View my UCSF profile ↗
PhD, NeuroscienceJohns Hopkins University · 2017

02 / WORK & FOCUS

Rigorous questions.
Real-world stakes.

A portfolio at the meeting point of scientific evidence, ethical inquiry, and institutional action.

01 ↗

PROGRAM LEADERSHIP

Connecting the
bioethics community

Supporting research, education, and public engagement through UCSF Bioethics.

UCSF Bioethics / Current work02 ↗

RESEARCH CULTURE

Responsibility
in practice

Program administration for human subjects Responsible Conduct of Research education.

Research ethics / Current work
03 ↗

DEVELOPING FOCUS

Technology that
changes us

Exploring how AI and neurotechnology affect agency, judgment, and human capabilities—and what governance should protect.

Health AI & neurotechnology / Interests

03 / NOTES & PERSPECTIVES

Thinking out loud.

A space for essays and questions about science, society, and the technologies shaping us.

This draft is a starting point for the site, not a previously published article.

04 / IN CONVERSATION

Ideas belong
in the room.

Good governance takes conversation across disciplines. This is a home for talks, panels, and exchanges with the people asking what science makes possible—and what society should do next.

▷
Talks & recorded conversations

Selected video recordings coming soon.

Discuss a speaking opportunity ↗
UCSF bioethics colleagues gathered at a conference dinner
IN COMMUNITY
UCSF colleagues at the 2025 ASBH meeting in Portland.Photo & event recap: UCSF Decision Lab ↗

LET’S CONNECT

The future is a
conversation worth having.

For speaking, collaboration, and conversations about science policy,
health AI, or neurotechnology governance.

Get in touch ↗

What do we become
when we use AI?

We often evaluate a technology by asking what it can do. I am interested in a companion question: what happens to us as we use it?

When a system helps us write, decide, remember, or interpret the world, the relationship between human and tool becomes part of the story. A successful output does not, by itself, tell us whether we are becoming better judges, more capable thinkers, or more deliberate authors of our own choices.

These are questions to investigate, not conclusions to assume. Which capabilities are strengthened? Which are delegated? When does assistance expand a person’s agency, and when might it narrow it?

For health AI and neurotechnology, answering those questions requires more than measuring performance in a single interaction. It requires attention to people over time, to the settings in which tools are used, and to the institutions responsible for responding when something goes wrong.

The governance challenge is to make the human consequences visible enough to matter in decisions about design, evaluation, and deployment. That is the conversation I want to help advance.

Proposed website copy, prepared for review. Not a published work.