Laurie Zabala​

President & CEO; Managing Publisher​

​Laurie Zabala is the Associate Director of Science Initiatives and Outreach at Research!America, where she leads the organization’s early-career civic science portfolio and manages the Science CEO Group. She also serves as President & CEO and Managing Publisher of the Journal of Science Policy & Governance, a role that reflects her deep commitment to elevating early-career voices in science policy.

Laurie’s career spans nonprofit, academic, and industry settings. Before joining Research!America, she worked at the AAAS Center for Scientific Evidence in Public Issues, helping state and local decision-makers integrate scientific evidence into policy. Earlier, she conducted oncology research at Pfizer, gaining firsthand experience with the scientific enterprise she now advocates for.

Her path into science policy was anything but linear. Trained first in the humanities and later in neuroscience, Laurie discovered science policy during her second master’s program and immediately recognized it as the perfect intersection of her interests — a place where evidence, people, and public impact meet. That realization set her on a trajectory that now includes founding The Vannevar Group at Georgetown University, meeting with congressional and federal agency staff, and building programs that support the next generation of civic science leaders.

Outside of work, Laurie is a first soprano and a visual artist who enjoys drawing in pencil and charcoal and painting in acrylics. These creative practices keep her grounded and remind her of the importance of curiosity and expression in all forms.

Having benefited from generous mentors throughout her own early-career journey, Laurie is committed to paying it forward. She believes that empowering emerging leaders is essential to building a more open, thoughtful science policy ecosystem.