Howard Garrison Advocacy Fellow

Rose Albert

Rose Albert is a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania.

Describe your interest in participating in the program. 
Albert: I grew up in rural Mississippi, where the racism I experienced as an Asian American fueled a fierce desperation to separate myself from my Southern experience. However, by attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham and learning the robust history of social and environmental activism in the South, I began to appreciate the region's strength and resilience. Through this lens, the work to build a better South became deeply personal. As a Howard Garrison Advocacy Fellow, I hope to gain skills in science communication, policy development, and leadership for crafting science-based policy responsive to community needs, especially in the South.

While in Alabama, my community science internship with the Greater Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution (GASP), a grassroots advocacy nonprofit, initiated my scientific responsibility and social obligation to southern environmental justice issues. Environmental racism has left North Birmingham, Alabama, overburdened with public health hazards. Reliable, publicly available data is a powerful tool against injustice, so I worked with community members to design and execute a ten-week air sampling study. I presented the results of the study in a community listening session. This internship allowed me to step outside the lab and see science as a tool for social justice; I saw how research can empower historically excluded communities that shoulder environmental burdens. Upon completing the project, I continued working with GASP and community members to develop a health policy.

Equity and inclusion in science must extend to the community it serves by centering community knowledge and leadership. The traditional research paradigm lacks authentic community engagement, leading to extractive practices that break trust, perpetrate scientific racism, and fail to address the root causes of inequity. Working with GASP, I saw how the city excluded residents from decision-making processes and previous collaborators broke trust. To counter this, I aim to co-produce knowledge with communities to create long-term change through science policy and communication.

As a rising third-year doctoral candidate, I am exploring non-academic pathways that leverage my training in biomedical sciences toward a career dismantling structural barriers to environmental justice and providing scientific support to overburdened communities. Though I have experience writing policy memos and white papers from the perspective of an external actor, such as a nonprofit or academic center, my understanding of policy implementation within the government is limited. The fellowship's science policy and advocacy course would equip me to understand policy and legislative development's key actors and mechanisms. Interactions with members of Congress and staff on Capitol Hill Day would be a new and critical context for me to utilize the communication and advocacy training. As the vice president of the Penn Science Policy and Diplomacy Group, I look forward to sharing what I learn with our membership, and, upon graduation, with my home region to contribute to coalitions of environmentally just policy change. Although progress can feel slow, environmental justice is lifelong work that is strengthened by collaboration and community I hope to gain as a Howard Garrison Advocacy Fellow.

How do you plan to use the knowledge and experience gained through your participation in the Howard Garrison Advocacy Program?
Albert: I plan to translate my experience as a fellow to provide scientific and technical support to communities impacted by environmental injustice and the climate crisis, especially in the South. The climate crisis is a prime example of how poor scientific literacy and communication have left the public susceptible to misinformation. This vulnerability is further exploited by industry-fueled disinformation campaigns, with shared tactics among the fossil fuel, tobacco, and chemical industries to fund manufactured doubt. As a doctoral trainee in toxicology and environmental health sciences, it is critical for me to train in accessible science communication for community members, scientists, and regulators alike. 

The program's communication and advocacy training would allow me to directly interface with decision-makers and learn forms of scientific writing not formally taught in my degree program, such as op-eds or letters to the editor. Through the program's science policy and advocacy course, I look forward to learning how scientific research is implemented in non-academic settings. Through the knowledge and network, I gain through FASEB meetings and symposia, I will develop effective programming for the Penn Science Policy and Diplomacy Group for graduate students to pursue career development and exploration. This experience will strengthen my agency and expertise to empower fenceline communities, promote environmental health literacy, and advocate for evidence-based environmental regulations. I hope to gain clarity on how I can pursue biomedical science as a tool for social justice through a career in science policy. I would like to learn how to improve as a candidate for science policy jobs.

Using no more than 250 words, describe your research as you would to a non-scientist. 
Albert: Babies born prematurely have underdeveloped lungs. These babies require extra oxygen in the hospital. While this is a necessary and lifesaving treatment, the high amounts of oxygen cause lung damage, leading to a chronic lung disease called bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). BPD develops more often and more severely in male babies than female babies.

The goal of my research is to understand why there is a male vulnerability and female advantage against this early-life lung disease. When considering sex differences in a disease, it is important to think about all sex-related factors. Sex isn’t just two categories of male and female; it is a spectrum of variables that may differ throughout a lifetime. For example, hormones such as estrogen and testosterone may be different in a person depending on puberty, menopausal status, or time of month.

My work focuses on how sex chromosomes X and Y contribute to lung development, response to injury, and recovery. Previous work in my lab using a mouse model of BPD showed that having XX chromosomes is protective against disease, regardless of hormones. My goal is to understand if females are protected because they have two X chromosomes or lack a Y chromosome. The goal of this work is to determine if there are genes on the X chromosome that may be protective or genes on the Y chromosome that may be contributing to disease. By understanding what makes females more resistant or males more vulnerable, we can work toward better treatments.

Briefly describe any past or present participation in additional career exploration activities, experiences, and/or programs.
Albert: I completed a two-week marine biological laboratory course called Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Hazards and Opportunities, where I reaffirmed my commitment to science advocacy and received media training, including a mock interview with a reporter. As a T32 Trainee in Environmental Health Sciences, I attend monthly seminars evaluating challenges in translating science from cells to society. As Vice President of the Penn Science Policy and Diplomacy Group and former Climate Leaders @ Penn executive board member, I develop partnerships and programming with campus, community, and national science policy organizations. I most recently organized and moderated an environmental justice and policy panel to discuss career pathways and the roles of government, community organizations, and universities in shaping policy. I view equity and inclusion as central obligations of science, so I also serve as the outreach co-coordinator for Pharm4GOOD and volunteer with Project SHORT—two programs that provide mentorship for students from historically excluded groups in STEM.

During my master's of public health, I was one of ten delegates of the American Chemical Society to the United Nations Framework Convention 26th Conference of the Parties. From this experience, I wrote a solo-author book chapter on opportunities and frameworks for environmental justice in international climate negotiations. I have previously worked as a nonprofit community scientist and health policy ambassador, developed health policy as an intern with the Center for Community Engagement Environmental Justice and Health at the University of Maryland, and led over 50 sustainability workshops and environmental education events as president of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Green Initiative.

Rose Albert is a member of American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, a FASEB member society.