Howard Garrison Advocacy Fellow
Justin Roncaioli, PhD
Justin Roncaioli is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.
Describe your interest in participating in the program:
Roncaioli: I am interested in the Howard H. Garrison Advocacy Fellowship because I want to deepen my understanding of the U.S. science policy landscape and explore a career transition into science policy. Throughout my scientific career, I have advocated for increased funding, support, and stability for science and scientists and participated in initiatives to increase equity in STEM. However, I only recently realized that science policy fits my skill set and passion for advocacy.
As a PhD student at UC Berkeley, I founded a journal club focused on increasing underrepresented minorities in STEM, participated in a student-run course on diversity in STEM, and evaluated faculty candidates’ commitment to mentorship. These initiatives showed me that even while working at the bench, scientists have a responsibility to advocate for a more equitable science and scientific environment. Learning about the devastating effects that the neglected diarrheal diseases I studied had on young children also enabled me to understand the human cost that insufficient biomedical research funding can have on vulnerable populations.
As a postdoctoral researcher at Penn, I continued to study neglected diarrheal disease and remained committed to advocating for science and scientists. This commitment led me to join a group of postdocs working to improve our peers' research conditions through unionization.
In February 2025, as the funding structures that supported our research came under attack, my colleagues and I employed the tools we had developed as union organizers to advocate directly for public science funding. As part of a National Day of Action, I helped organize and lead a “Hands Off Our Healthcare, Research, and Jobs” rally attended by over 300 people. I offered opening and closing remarks on the importance of publicly funded science to the economies of Philadelphia and the U.S., and on the impact federal cuts to biomedical research funding will have on Americans' health. This National Day of Action drew sharp public focus on the importance of publicly funded research by mobilizing scientists, healthcare workers, labor organizers, and higher education workers in coalition.
In July 2025, Penn postdocs won our union with a 95% YES vote. I was proud to be a key member of this campaign; I drafted email updates, led town halls, was interviewed by WHYY Philadelphia, and edited two op-eds. I now serve on the union bargaining committee and have researched and co-drafted contract articles and a petition signed by over 700 Penn postdocs urging the University to provide better support for international postdocs in the visa renewal process.
These experiences have helped me understand not only the impact of advocacy and policymaking, but also my passion for organizing and working with others to create change. This realization has motivated me to seek fellowships in science advocacy and policy and to pursue this route as a career. The Howard H. Garrison Advocacy Fellowship will provide an invaluable next step in this transition.
How do you plan to use the knowledge and experience gained through your participation in the Howard Garrison Advocacy Program?
Roncaioli: My goal is to explore a career transition to working in science policy, particularly in government, so I can apply my critical thinking skills to the government policymaking process and advocate for more stable funding structures for biomedical research. However, my experience with policy and advocacy has been mostly at the university level, and I have not yet received formal training in these areas. Thus, I am eager to learn from experienced policymakers through the trainings, workshops, and coaching offered by the Howard Garrison Advocacy Program. The Science Policy and Advocacy Training will provide important context on how science policy decisions are made at the legislative level, and the Communications and Advocacy Training will give me critical experience interacting with elected officials and their staff and writing about science policy for a broad audience. Additionally, I am eager to take part in the career development, leadership, and networking opportunities presented through the Howard Garrison Advocacy Program. The discussion sessions with current science policy and advocacy experts will provide me with invaluable insights and mentorship in the science policy and advocacy space and help me develop my leadership skills within this space. As I complete my postdoctoral research over the next year, I intend to further explore opportunities in science policy and advocacy, and I am also excited to benefit from the support and community of a fellowship cohort that shares these experiences and this transition together.
Using no more than 250 words, describe your research as you would to a non-scientist.
Roncaioli: I study how the immune system recognizes, responds to, and eliminates germs that infect the human intestine. I have focused on two germs: Shigella, a bacteria, and Cryptosporidium, a parasite. When we eat or drink food or water contaminated with these germs, they can invade the cells in our gut, leading to inflammation and diarrhea. While most healthy adults will clear the germs within a few weeks, people with weakened immune systems are at risk for severe, long-term infections that can lead to malnutrition and even death. Unfortunately, we lack effective treatments and vaccines to both germs because we don’t understand how they cause disease and how the immune system clears the infection. One of the ways scientists work to understand better disease is by re-creating what the infection looks like in a “model”, often a mouse or cells grown in a dish, which are easier to study than humans. I focus on two goals in my research: 1) developing better models to study infection, and 2) using these models to understand how the immune system clears an infection. During my PhD, I developed a model of Shigella infection that recreates the human disease in a mouse. This has paved the way for studies of vaccines and treatments for Shigella. In my postdoctoral research, I have developed a system to grow Cryptosporidium in a dish using cells taken from the mouse gut. This has allowed me to identify the parts of the immune system that slow Cryptosporidium’s growth.
Briefly describe any past or present participation in additional career exploration activities, experiences, and/or programs.
Roncaioli: I first learned about science advocacy and policy careers in a professional development course offered by my PhD program. As a postdoc, I began considering a career transition from academia to science policy after extensive advocacy and union work. As this interest grew, I had one-on-one meetings with the president of the Penn Science Policy and Diplomacy Group and a colleague in my department who was spearheading an effort to start a Pennsylvania science policy program. These meetings gave me confidence that my skill set and my motivations were a strong fit for a career transition to science policy and advocacy. I joined the Penn Science Policy and Diplomacy group in the last year and have attended panels on “How to write a policy memo”, “One health and science diplomacy”, and “Scientists rebuilding trust in government”. These panels provided me with an overview of the pressing questions facing science policy experts, and I found that, like with my union organizing, I enjoyed applying my critical thinking skills to complex policy issues that require urgent solutions. Most recently, I met with a government scientist working as a biotechnology expert at the Department of State to learn about the day-to-day responsibilities of the role. These career exploration activities have helped me understand what it is like to work as a science policy expert and have shown me that this is a career path in which I can thrive.
Justin Roncaioli is a member of the American Society for Investigative Pathology.