Two Indian-Americans, Padmini Pillai from Boston and Nalini Tata from New York, were appointed to the 2024-2025 class of White House Fellows on Thursday.
In all, 15 exceptionally-talented individuals from across the United States have been named to this prestigious programme. Fellows spend a year working with senior White House staff, cabinet secretaries and other top-ranking administration officials, and leave the administration equipped to serve as better leaders in their communities.
While Tata is placed at the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs, Pillai is placed at the Social Security Administration, the White House said in a media release.
Pillai is an immunoengineer bridging the gap between discoveries in immunology and advances in biomaterial design to treat human disease.
She has led a team at the MIT developing a tumour-selective nanotherapy to eliminate hard-to-treat cancers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pillai was featured in several media outlets, including “CNBC”, “The Atlantic” and “The New York Times”, to discuss vaccination, immunity and the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on vulnerable communities.
Pillai received her PhD in immunobiology from the Yale University and a BA in biochemistry from the Regis College.
Tata is a neurosurgery resident at the New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Centre/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, where she helps treat the spectrum of emergency and elective neurosurgical conditions between a level-1 trauma centre and a world-renowned cancer institute.
Her published work spans clinical and non-scientific journals, with a focus on advancing equity in access to care. Her career in neurosurgery and long-standing interest in public policy are closely bound by a deep-rooted dedication to public service. She received her BSc in neurobiology from the Brown University, MPhil from the University of Cambridge, MD from the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine and MPP in Democracy, Politics, and Institutions from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
According to the White House, this year’s Fellows advanced through a highly-competitive selection process, and they are a remarkably gifted, passionate and accomplished group. These Fellows bring experience from across the country and from a broad cross-section of professions, including from the private sector, state government, academia, non-profits, medicine and the armed forces, it said.
