Early Career Advocacy: How to Get Started

Nicholas Cilz is in his fourth year working toward a PhD in pharmacology, physiology, and therapeutics at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. His research interests concern neuromodulatory mechanisms of synaptic transmission in the entorhinal cortex and their underlying roles in learning and memory, as well as various neurological diseases. Cilz has been working to increase the visibility of the research at his medical school to policymakers and convey the positive economic potential of which a strong financial investment for research and development could have in his state.

Shannon Farris is a postdoctoral fellow in the synaptic and developmental plasticity group at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at NIH. Her research focuses on how learning experiences are encoded in the brain at the molecular and cellular levels. Her efforts are concentrated on types of learning disrupted in neurodevelopmental disorders, such as social learning in autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia. The current funding crisis has further prompted her to pursue ways for scientists to locally advocate for biomedical funding. Through SfN’s Early Career Policy Fellows Program, Shannon reactivated a local SfN chapter, which she uses as a platform to host science policy events with members and their congressman.

Katie Wilkinson is an assistant professor in the biological sciences department at San José State University. Her lab studies plasticity in muscle proprioceptors. As an SfN early career advocacy fellow, Wilkinson has participated in SfN Capitol Hill Day, met with Rep. Zoe Lofgren in her district office, and hosted a member of Rep. Mike Honda's staff for a lab tour. She also writes a science policy blog.