Over the past few months, I have been reflecting on the deep-seated reasons for my career change from an academic scientist at a top tier research university to my new venture in science policy in DC. I realized that founding the Beautiful You MRKH Foundation, Inc., with Christina Ruth and becoming a patient advocate for women born with MRKH, a congenital syndrome leading to primary infertility, played a major role in my decision (see my previous blog post on infertility and MRKH). The name of our non-profit agency underscores the importance of recognizing beauty in oneself, yet hints that society’s definition of beauty often rests on the outward physical manifestations of one’s individual genetic roll of the dice. Many women who are born differently (those of us with MRKH and other conditions that challenge our value as women) often have a negative body image, suffer from poor self-esteem…