Tania Simoncelli is currently serving as Special Assistant to the Commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Ms. Simoncelli has critically examined human and agricultural biotechnology developments both in the U.S. and abroad for more than ten years. Her interest in these topics stem from her Cornell undergraduate work as a Biology & Society major as well as her MS at UC Berkeley, where she analyzed competing models for the conservation and use of genetic resources in Costa Rica. Prior to her position at the FDA, she served as a Science & Technology Fellow for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), worked as a Consultant to the International Center for Technology Assessment in Washington, D.C. and as Program Director for the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley, California.