Commander Katherine Pulaski is a fictional medical doctor in the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. She is the chief medical officer aboard the Federation starship USS Enterprise-D. Her medical skills saved the lives of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Commander William Riker, and she helped inspire Lt. Commander Data to create a hologram of Professor Moriarty that became self-aware. Pulaski preferred to avoid the transporter, but was forced to rely on it to save her own life from an alien infection. Before arriving on the Enterprise-D, she previously served on the USS Repulse. For a time, she was romantically involved with Kyle Riker, but they continued to remain friends.