Renee Muthakana, MA’26 Awarded Fulbright Scholarship

Renee Muthakana, a graduate student in Duke’s Applied Ethics & Policy program, has been named a 2026-27 Fulbright Scholar. The prestigious award will allow her to expand her research to India, where she will continue to work at the intersection of women’s health policy, law, and reproductive justice.

Muthakana’s academic path has centered on questions of equity in women’s health. “I’ve become really interested in how legal systems and health policy directly affect who gets access to care and who gets left out,” she said. That focus led her to study infertility and in-vitro fertilization (IVF), where she identified gaps in access driven by high out-of-pocket costs and uneven regulation.

Her peer-reviewed publication, Universal IVF Justice Framework, examines global disparities in IVF policy and access. Building on this work, she conducted a comparative analysis of IVF systems across 24 countries, identifying India as a key case study due to its large, rapidly growing assisted reproductive technology (ART) sector — valued at over $800 million — and ongoing challenges in access tied to cost, geography, and implementation of the 2021 ART Act.

As a Fulbright Scholar, Muthakana will travel to India to examine how governance in the country’s rapidly expanding ART sector affects access, affordability, and quality of care. Her project will include a national and state-level policy review alongside interviews of clinicians, researchers, and policymakers to better understand how laws translate into real-world outcomes.

India offers a uniquely complex setting for this work. With a population of over 1.4 billion and a rapidly expanding fertility industry, even small policy changes have the potential to impact millions. For Muthakana, the opportunity to engage directly with systems on the ground is key. “Reading about policy is one thing,” she said. “But seeing how implementation works in real life is completely different.”

The Fulbright Program, funded by the U.S. Department of State, supports international exchange through research, teaching, and cultural engagement, enabling scholars to address global challenges while building cross-cultural understanding. Duke University has been consistently recognized as a Fulbright Top Producing Institution, reflecting its strong commitment to global scholarship and student achievement.

For Muthakana, the experience is a step toward long-term goals in global health equity. “I want to understand how systems are built, who they serve well, where they fall short, and how policy can improve access to care. India is an important case study for understanding how reproductive health policy can balance innovation, ethics, and equity.”