Michelle Crotwell Kirtley, PhD, directs scientific and strategic planning as well as community outreach for Edible Atlas, a lab at Duke University that measures what people eat by reading the plant and animal DNA left behind in stool and wastewater. Since 2024 she has led the lab's community-scale wastewater work, including a Duke CTSI–funded project that pairs neighborhood-level dietary monitoring in Durham with community engagement and resident-centered use of the data. A cell biologist by training, Michelle holds a B.S. in molecular biology from Princeton and a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from MIT. Before joining Duke, she served as a health and science policy advisor to two physician members of Congress and worked in the nonprofit sector, focusing on bioethics, public health, and healthcare reform. She continues to write and speak on these topics.