Shannon Connolly (At-large)
connollys@mail.nih.gov
Shannon joined NIH as an at-large PMF in August 2006. She will graduate from the program in July 2008. During her Fellowship, Shannon has had the opportunity to work in various offices and Institutes across the NIH. Working closely with the Director and Deputy Director of the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) Shannon spearheaded CSR’s Peer Review public engagement effort. The goal of this effort was to obtain public input from the scientific community on the current Peer Review Study Section alignment and identify current and emerging trends in science. Shannon also worked at the NIH Office of Budget where she was one of three staff charged with rolling out a 5-year budget planning exercise to all 27 Institutes and Centers that make up NIH and then compiling and analyzing the exercise data. This exercise and its data served to frame the discussion at the annual Director’s retreat. Finally, Shannon was instrumental in coordinating the hiring of the staff (both scientific and administrative) for the newly established NIH Intramural Center for Genomics and Health Disparities (NICGHD), housed within the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).

Upon graduation, Shannon will join the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Workforce Development as a Program Analyst. In this capacity, Shannon will have the opportunity to work on myriad workforce management, human capital management and training and development programs offered by that office to all NCI employees. Shannon will work primarily on organizational development-related activities, providing development assessment and training services as well as retreat/meeting facilitation assistance to the many offices and branches which comprise NCI. She will also serve as the Institute’s liaison to NIH for matters relating to competitive sourcing and A-76 issues and will be an Executive Coach.

Shannon has duel Masters Degrees in Social Work (New York University) and Public Administration (University of Delaware). Prior to coming to the NIH Shannon had extensive direct-service and program management experience working in myriad social-service settings in both the non-profit and public sectors in New York City and Boston. Shannon is actively involved in her community. She serves as a volunteer mediator with the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County (CRCMC). She is active in the philanthropic Smithsonian Young Benefactors Association and is a member of the EDEN (Executive Development Exchange Network) group and Young Government Leaders. In her spare time, she can be found in the gym, on the Potomac or Chesapeake River sailing, on the tennis court, in a museum, at the theatre, or reading a good book.

Mary Fischietto (Designated – NCI)
Mary.Fischietto@nih.gov
Mary Fischietto is a 2006 National Cancer Institute (NCI) Presidential Management Fellow. Prior to entering the program, Mary earned a Master's of Public Administration in Health Policy and Management from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. At Wagner, she served as a Graduate Assistant for the John Brademas Center for the Study of Congress where she conducted research on members of Congress and assisted in event planning. Prior to entering graduate school, Mary worked as a Senior Associate for KPMG LLP’s public sector practice where she performed financial and organizational reviews for clients, such as the New York City Department of Education and the Twin Towers Fund. Currently completing her first rotation with NCI’s Financial Management Branch, she aims to broaden her policy analysis skills through future rotations with NCI’s Office of Policy Analysis and Response, and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Health Policy.

Rebekah Geiger (At-large)
Rebekah.Geiger@nih.gov
Rebekah Geiger earned a Masters of Social Work from the University of Michigan in 2006, with a focus on Health and concentrations in Management of Human Services and Social Policy and Evaluation. Her academic and personal experiences throughout the program further solidified her interest in the challenges presented by increasing costs of health insurance, health disparities, the role of preventative healthcare in improving global health, and women’s health.

Prior to joining the NIH as an At-Large Presidential Management Fellow, Rebekah completed a two-year internship at the Providence Center for the Healing Arts at the Assarian Cancer Center in Novi, Michigan. While there, Rebekah was responsible for researching and preparing grants, compiling and collapsing system-wide documents to create uniform service throughout the system, supervising interns and planning and implementing programs and services for patients, hospital staff and the greater community. Working in the same agency for two years gave her an excellent appreciation for organizational structure, prioritization of resources and the components necessary for quality work environments. In addition, Rebekah assisted with research and data collection for the Women Veterans Project: Operation Iraqi Freedom authored by Penny Pierce through the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.

Originally from East Lansing, Michigan, Rebekah earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Women’s Studies and Sociology, focusing on Race, Ethnicity and Gender, from the University of Michigan in 2001.

Julie Gold (Designated – CC)
Julie.Gold@nih.gov
Julie Gold, a first-year designated Presidential Management Fellow in the Clinical Center, will work for one year as the Special Assistant to Maureen Gormley, the Clinical Center’s Chief Operating Officer. For the second year of her fellowship, she will take rotational assignments.

With an eclectic background, including experience in theater/film, journalism, community action, and science, Julie received a Master’s in clinical social work at Simmons College in the spring of 2006. There, she worked as a case manager and psychotherapist in state and private hospitals. Earlier, she worked as a research assistant in the Harvard Psychology Department. In 1998, she received an MA in English and theater from King’s College, London, following which she worked in theater and journalism in New York City, including a stint as Nicole Kidman’s stand-in for the film Birth and writing assignments for Forbes and FORTUNE. After college, while teaching English in Paris, Julie also worked for a renowned Nazi hunter. In 1996, Julie completed her undergraduate studies (Comparative Literature and pre-med) at Brown University.

Julie, who grew up in Rockville, is pleased to return home and finally see the inside workings of the NIH, which she describes as a “scientific movie star.” She is grateful to be able to work for an organization whose mission, to improve human health, provides hope to individuals, researchers, and nations.

Kimberly Myers (Designated – NCI)
Kim.Myers@nih.gov Dr. Kimberly Myers is a 2006 National Cancer Institute (NCI) Presidential Management Fellow. Before joining NCI, Kim earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University’s Program in Virology. While a student at Harvard, she was involved in numerous activities to promote science and health knowledge to various and diverse stakeholder audiences. Kim has broad interests in science policy, planning, and legislative affairs. Since joining NCI, Kim has worked in the Office of Science Planning and Assessment, where her activities have included coordinating and writing responses to Congressional Appropriations Committee Requests, writing narrative for the Congressional Justification, and working on NCI’s annual Bypass Budget. Her next rotation will be in NCI’s Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimens Research, which provides coordination and management for policies and practices affecting NCI’s biorepositories. Kim hopes to use future rotational opportunities to further advance her knowledge of policy, planning, and the legislative process.