Howard Garrison Advocacy Fellow
Shannon Kirkpatrick
Shannon Kirkpatrick is a graduate student at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
Describe your interest in participating in the program:
Kirkpatrick: I am a toxicology PhD candidate at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, finishing my dissertation in early 2027. My research investigates how alcohol misuse causes immune system malfunctions in the liver, and it is funded by an NIH F31 predoctoral fellowship and a T32 training grant, both of which required me to persuasively justify why basic immunology research deserves federal investment. Writing those applications was the first time I had to make a case for science to a funding body, and it left me with a question I have not stopped thinking about since: how does the science I do every day at the bench eventually reach the people who decide whether to fund it at all? That question has pulled me toward science and public advocacy in two concrete ways. I've conducted informational interviews with eleven NIH Program Officers and Scientific Review Officers, learning how federal research priorities are set and how appropriations decisions shape the science that gets done. In addition to investigating the the government and academic intersection through my own network of POs, I have begun building practical experience advocating for science beyond my own lab. I facilitate a multidisciplinary scientific advisory council for Mpowered Menopause, a nonprofit research foundation dedicated to advancing perimenopause and menopause research. I aid in translating expert scientific discussion into accessible recommendations for lay leadership overseeing a competitive (~$1 million) research funding portfolio. The foundation also hosts a public awareness walk in New York City, an event that brings together the scientific community, patients, and advocates to raise visibility for a field that has long been underfunded relative to its public health significance.
Through all of this I have developed a clear picture of where I still need to grow. I understand how science gets funded and how to communicate it across scientific and lay audiences. What I have never done is engage directly with elected officials, craft messaging for a legislative context, or advocate for research funding in the political context where those decisions are actually made. That is the gap the Howard Garrison Advocacy Fellowship fills. Direct experience on Capitol Hill, training in how to communicate with Congressional staff, and the opportunity to observe FASEB's Science Policy Committee at work would give me the experience I seek to more comprehensively understand the government funding ecosystem.
Federal research funding faces a critical need for scientists who can step into policy, make the case, and communicate clearly about what is at stake. I want to develop those skills now and carry my learned experiences forward into every role I hold, throughout a career dedicated to ensuring the science that matters most to human health gets the support it deserves.
How do you plan to use the knowledge and experience gained through your participation in the Howard Garrison Advocacy Program?
Kirkpatrick: In the near term, I am actively pursuing science policy fellowships that would place me inside government agencies, working in research, communication, and policy. The advocacy and communication training this fellowship provides will strengthen my applications and make me more effective in those roles. The Capitol Hill Day experience, in particular, is a boots on the ground, real networking experience that I'll build on immediately.
After I graduate in early 2027, I am set on relocating to the Washington DC area to pursue these opportunities, and I am eager to build the professional network that will sustain a long career in science policy. The connections this fellowship offers are an important part of that, giving me relationships with people already working at the science-policy interface before I arrive. When I arrive in DC to continue my career, I can hit the ground running with direct experience communicating with Congressional staff rather than building that from scratch.
Beyond my own career, the skills this fellowship builds connect directly to advocacy work I am already doing. As the founding facilitator of the Mpowered Menopause scientific advisory council, I'm invested in the nonprofit which is actively working to expand its presence to DC in the coming years, and having a facilitator who understands how to communicate scientific priorities to legislators and engage in federal advocacy conversations will make a pivotal difference. The Howard Garrison Fellowship puts those skills directly in my hands at exactly the right time.
Using no more than 250 words, describe your research as you would to a non-scientist.
Kirkpatrick: When most people think about the damage alcohol does to the liver, they picture scarring or cirrhosis. What is less well understood is that much of that damage is driven by the immune system, not by alcohol itself.
The liver is home to immune cells whose job is to monitor for threats and coordinate a defensive response. In people who misuse alcohol, these cells become chronically overactivated, releasing inflammatory signals that damage the surrounding liver over time. There are no widely effective treatments for this condition, and it remains one of the leading causes of liver-related death in the United States.
My research investigates why these immune cells malfunction. I discovered that a receptor called C5aR1, part of the innate immune system, does not only sit on the surface of the cell as previously assumed. It localizes to the mitochondria inside the cell, where it disrupts normal energy metabolism and pushes the cell into a hyperinflammatory state. This finding reframes how we think about immune signaling in the liver, from a system that operates outside cells as a general alarm to one that works from within, altering the biology of the cell itself. It points toward a new class of therapeutic targets for alcohol-associated liver disease, and raises broader questions about how intracellular immune signaling shapes cell behavior in other inflammatory conditions. Understanding how immune cells are reprogrammed from within may open new avenues for treatment well beyond the liver.
Briefly describe any past or present participation in additional career exploration activities, experiences, and/or programs.
Kirkpatrick: Early in my PhD I completed iCERch, an individual Career Exploration Research program designed to help PhD scientists align their personality strengths with potential career paths. That exercise surfaced research administration as a strong fit and reoriented how I approached the rest of my training.
Since then I have conducted informational interviews with eleven NIH health science administrators, including Program Officers at NIDDK, NIA, NIGMS, and NINDS and Scientific Review Officers at the Center for Scientific Review. Those conversations illuminated the academic-government interface from the inside, and deepened my curiosity about the layers above it, specifically how scientific priorities get translated into funding decisions and how advocates shape what Congress chooses to support.
In parallel I have pursued several applied experiences. I serve as the founding facilitator of the scientific advisory council for Mpowered Menopause, a nonprofit research foundation overseeing a one million dollar funding portfolio, where I practice the evaluation and stakeholder engagement skills. The communication skills I've learned in these contexts is vital to translate science and impact to those who have never set foot in a lab or clinic, but who are the ones responsible for understanding ongoing gaps in health sciences. I have also applied to the ASPET Washington Fellows Program, the Howard Hughes Presidential Fellowship, and am currently interviewing for ORISE science policy fellowships within NIH for opportunities after I graduate. Together these activities reflect a sustained, multi-year effort to build toward a career at the interface of science, funding, and policy.
Shannon Kirkpatrick is a member of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.