USA White House Press Office : The President’s Commission on White House Fellows is pleased to announce the appointment of the 2024-2025 class of White House Fellows. Founded in 1964, the White House Fellows program offers exceptional young leaders first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the Federal government. 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. Fellowships are awarded on a non-partisan basis.
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.
Applications for the 2025-2026 Fellowship year will be accepted starting November 1, 2024. The application link and additional information is available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/get-involved/fellows/.
Class of 2024-2025 White House Fellows
Patrick Branco is from Kailua, Hawai‘i, and is placed at the Department of the Navy. He has been the Director of External Affairs with Hawai‘i Green Growth, a United Nations (UN) hub catalyzing action on the UN Sustainable Development Goals for the Asia-Pacific region. Branco is the first from Hawai‘i to receive the Congressman Rangel International Affairs Fellowship, funding his master’s degree at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He served at the State Department in Colombia, Pakistan, Venezuela and the Secretary of State’s Operations Center. In 2020, he was elected to the Hawai‘i State House of Representatives. Branco currently serves as a U.S. Navy officer reservist and is proficient in Spanish, Korean, and Hawaiian.
Nicholas Dockery is from Indianapolis, Indiana, and is placed at the Office of the First Lady: Joining Forces Initiative. With a distinguished career in the Infantry and Special Operations Community, Nick has deployed to numerous combat zones and operational areas worldwide. For bravery and wounds in combat, Nick was awarded two Silver Stars and two Purple Hearts. His military experience is complemented by his academic and advisory roles; he served as a research fellow at the Modern War Institute and as an advisor to the Military Times Charitable Foundation. Nick has received the West Point Nininger Award for Valor at Arms, the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award, and the title of 2022 Soldier of the Year. An advocate for equine therapy, Nick passionately supports its use in helping veterans cope with PTSD. Nick holds a Master of Public Policy from Yale University and a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Tawny Holmes Hlibok, Esq. is from West Palm Beach, Florida, and is placed at the Domestic Policy Council. As a third-generation Deaf person and attorney, she is a dedicated advocate for deaf children’s education rights and language equity including access to sign languages. Tawny is a tenured associate professor in Deaf Studies at the world’s only university for the Deaf, Gallaudet University, where she recently won $3.75 million funding to lead a national implementation and change center for early intervention with deaf babies and their families in partnership with HRSA and NICHQ. She also serves as the executive director of the Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf.
DeAnna Hoskins is from Cincinnati, Ohio, and is placed at the Department of the Army. She has served as President/CEO of JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA), a national nonprofit that empowers people directly impacted by the criminal justice system. DeAnna is a nationally- recognized advocate and policy expert who has shifted the national narrative on the disparities and limitations of having a criminal background. She has served as Senior Policy Advisor and as Deputy Director of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council at the U.S. Department of Justice. DeAnna was also the founding Director of Reentry for Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners in Ohio.
Michael Kennedy is from Morehead City, North Carolina, and is placed at the United States Coast Guard. As a nurse practitioner, her career involves direct patient care while leading process improvement in rural and underserved settings. Michael attended Lenoir Community College to become a Registered Nurse and later earned a B.S. Nursing from Barton College. Witnessing disparities in practice led Michael to East Carolina University for an M.S. Adult Nurse Practitioner, Post-M.S. Nursing Leadership, Doctorate of Nursing Practice, and Post-DNP Nursing Education. To better serve her community, Michael completed a Post-M.S. Adult-Gerontological Acute Care NP and Post-DNP Psychiatric-Mental Health NP at Duke University. Michael is a Great 100 Nurse and Bonnie Jones Friedman Humanitarian Award recipient.
Hoa Nguyen is from Silver Spring, Maryland, and is placed at the National Economic Council and the United States Coast Guard. At Montgomery College, she is an associate professor and chair of the business department, where she helped implement a zero-textbook-cost Business degree, saving students thousands of dollars in education costs. Under her leadership, faculty and students have won multiple local, state and national awards and recognitions. Hoa also co-led numerous initiatives that led to the launch of the Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Taskforce at the college. Hoa received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Arizona.
Amnahir Peña-Alcántara is from Bronx, New York, and is placed at the Department of Commerce: National Institute of Standards and Technology. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University funded by the NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program and the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship. Her research focuses on polymer blends for stretchable electronics. She graduated from MIT with a bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering, and was a researcher at Northwestern University, Oxford University, and MIT. She has interned in wearable technology and textile fabrication companies in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and India.
Padmini Pillai is from Newton, Massachusetts, and is placed at the Social Security Administration. Padmini 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 MIT developing a tumor-selective nanotherapy to eliminate hard-to-treat cancers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Padmini 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. Padmini received her Ph.D. in immunobiology from Yale University and a B.A. in biochemistry from Regis College.
Maddy Sharp is from San Diego, California, and is placed at the Office of the Second Gentleman. She is a physician leader committed to securing a healthier and more equitable future for all Americans. She has served as a health policy fellow for Senator Amy Klobuchar and a policy research fellow for Secretary John Kerry. Madison has performed clinical work and research in Nicaragua, Jordan, and the Navajo Nation to reduce health disparities and championed policies to enhance healthcare delivery. She completed her obstetrics and gynecology residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Madison holds an M.D. from the Yale School of Medicine and B.A. from Yale University, where she captained the NCAA Division I field hockey team.
Jason Spencer is from Medford, New York, and is placed at the Department of Commerce. Jason is a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy serving as an Information Warfare and Intelligence Officer. At sea, he was assigned to aircraft carriers and destroyers deployed to the Middle East and Europe. Ashore, Jason served as Targeting Officer and Aide-de-Camp to the Commander of U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and later as Aide-de-Camp to the Commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. At the Pentagon, he served as Senior Intelligence Briefer for the Chief of Naval Operations – Intelligence Plot and as an Executive Officer to the Joint Staff’s Director for Intelligence. Jason earned a B.A. in international studies and political science from Virginia Military Institute, an M.A. from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, and an M.P.A. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Nalini Tata is from New York City, New York, and is placed at the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs. She is a neurosurgery resident at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she helps treat the spectrum of emergency and elective neurosurgical conditions between a level I trauma center 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 Brown University, MPhil from the University of Cambridge, M.D. from Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, and MPP in Democracy, Politics, and Institutions from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Alexander Tenorio is from Los Angeles, California, and is placed at the Department of Veterans Affairs. He is a neurological surgery resident at the University of California, San Diego. He is the proud son of Mexican immigrants and dedicated to improving health disparities. He has led a research team investigating neurological traumatic injuries at the U.S.-Mexico border with his published work featured in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. In his commitment for health equity, he partnered with Hospital General de Tijuana in Mexico to improve their neurosurgical care. He earned an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco and B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Zachary White II is from Birmingham, Alabama, and is placed at the Department of Veterans Affairs. He is a Radiation Oncology resident physician and cancer researcher at Stanford University. Passionate about health equity, Zach co-chairs Stanford Medicine’s GME Diversity Committee, promoting diverse medical trainees’ recruitment and development, and provides health education to communities to improve health literacy. Zach graduated summa cum laude from Tuskegee University with a B.S. in biology and earned an M.S. in biomedical and health sciences from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He received his M.D. from the University of South Alabama, where he served as class president.
Ryan Wisz is from Aiken, South Carolina, and is placed at the Central Intelligence Agency. He is a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy serving as a Submarine Warfare officer. At sea, he has served aboard Attack and Ballistic Missile submarines and has deployed seven times, including missions vital to national security. Ashore, he has served as aide-de-camp to the Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and as the Submarine Squadron Engineer in San Diego, California. Prior to military service, he was a Page in the South Carolina House of Representatives and Senate. He received his B.S. in economics from the University of South Carolina and is a Distinguished Graduate from the Naval Postgraduate School with his MBA and published master’s thesis. He has received numerous personal and unit awards during his Navy service, is active in local tutoring, and passionate about financial education and physical fitness.
Mark York is a seventh-generation farmer from Lake Wilson, Minnesota, and is placed at the Department of Defense Office of Strategic Capital. He is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Harvard, where he researches crowdsourcing and reinforcement learning algorithms in collaboration with MIT. He is the co-founder and President of Farm Yield Africa, a non-profit providing tractor services and microcredit to 1,500 farmers in Ghana since 2016. Mark has worked as a consultant, and before that he led a data science team at a startup building agricultural risk models. He began his career at Cargill as a commodity trader and data scientist. Mark studied agronomy and mathematics at South Dakota State University, where as Student Body President he introduced legislation at the state and local level.
By: Kanwal Abidi.
