Joanne Padrón Carney

Director, AAAS Office of Government Relations

Email: jcarney@aaas.org

Ms. Carney joined the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1997 as the Director for the Office of Government Relations, formerly the Center for Science, Technology and Congress. She directs all activities of the Center, including production of the newsletter Science and Technology in Congress, organization of workshops, coordination of briefings for congressional leaders and their staff, and preparation of the regional reports on research and development in the states. In addition, she has assisted in various other activities for AAAS's Science and Policy Programs.

Prior to joining the AAAS staff, Ms. Carney was the head of Government Relations for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) where she followed civil space, civil aeronautics and defense issues for almost ten years. At AIAA Ms. Carney was staff liaison to the AIAA Public Policy Committee, and assisted in the organization of over 16 technical workshops and the preparation of numerous position papers. She also prepared analyses of the NASA budget request as the contribution to the annual AAAS Intersociety Working Group R&D Report.

Ms. Carney holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Language and Literature from the University of Maryland at College Park and a Master of Arts in Science, Technology, and Public Policy from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

Erin Heath

Associate Director, AAAS Office of Government Relations

Email: eheath@aaas.org

Erin Heath is Associate Director of the AAAS Office of Government Relations. Her primary area of focus is biomedical policy. Before joining AAAS in 2006, she worked for the American Institute of Biological Sciences, where she led the organization’s media training and outreach efforts and handled a range of policy issues. Ms. Heath holds a Master of Science with Merit in Public Policy and Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science. While in London, she served as a research assistant in Parliament. Prior to graduate school, Ms. Heath spent years as a journalist in Washington, most notably as a science policy reporter and columnist for the National Journal.  She earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Maryland.

Sara Spizzirri

Government Relations Associate, AAAS Office of Government Relations

Email: sspizzir@aaas.org

Ms. Spizzirri joined the AAAS Office of Government Relations in May 2012 as a Government Relations Associate.

Prior to joining AAAS, Ms. Spizzirri spent four years at The National Academies. She spent two years supporting a variety of programmatic and administrative activities at PNAS, and most recently, she served as a researcher at the Institute of Medicine, working on the "Geographic Adjustment in Medicare Payment" reports.

She holds a Master of Public Administration with concentrations in Science Policy and Non-Profit Management from the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, DC, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics with a minor in Biology from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York.