Amy Bastian

Kennedy Krieger Institute

Dr. Amy Bastian serves as chief science officer at Kennedy Krieger Institute. Mentoring has been her most significant accomplishment and one of her life’s greatest privileges. She has mentored more than 45 doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows through intensive, one-on-one collaborations spanning three to five years. Her approach centers on understanding the whole person, not just their scientific abilities, and she has maintained a particular dedication to advancing the careers of women, with work-life balance mattering deeply to her. Those she has guided have gone on to hold faculty positions at prominent universities, with a couple even becoming department chairs, while others are doing outstanding work in medical industry, policy and advocacy.

In 2023, Bastian was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, founded by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to provide independent, objective scientific advice to the government. She received the news right after extensive surgery for recurrent breast cancer, and the timing brought incredible and unexpected joy during a really difficult time in her life. Women are markedly underrepresented in the organization’s membership, but she believes that, one by one, they are righting that course.

Her mentorship extends beyond the laboratory. While looking for a math tutor for her son in her Baltimore neighborhood, Bastian met a young woman who was clearly brilliant. When Bastian asked about her life goals — this was around the time of the Freddie Gray protests — the young woman shared her passion for fighting inequity in Baltimore. Bastian brought her into the lab for a summer internship and stayed in touch through high school and college. That young woman was recently admitted to Harvard School of Public Health.

Her younger brother later came to Bastian for mentoring as well and is now in college pursuing his passion.

This is an honoree profile from The Daily Record’s Top 100 Women awards. Information for this profile was sourced from the honoree’s application for the award. The honoree profiles were written using an artificial intelligence program and supported by honoree nominations, applications and letters of recommendation. Each profile was reviewed, fact-checked and edited for accuracy by The Daily Record’s editorial staff.