Professional affiliations:
- PhD Candidate, George Washington University – Children’s National Hospital Program in Genomics and Bioinformatics
- Junior Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study Vienna – Science, Technology, and Social Transformation Research Group
- Visiting Researcher, Vrije Universiteit Brussels – Brussels School of Governance
- Visiting Researcher, Institut Nationale de Recherche Biomedical Kinshasa-Congo
- Affiliate, CRNS International Epigenetics, Data, and Politics Lab at the George Washington University
- PhD Candidate, George Washington University – Children’s National Hospital Program in Genomics and Bioinformatics
- Junior Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study Vienna – Science, Technology, and Social Transformation Research Group
- Visiting Researcher, Vrije Universiteit Brussels – Brussels School of Governance
- Visiting Researcher, Institut Nationale de Recherche Biomedical Kinshasa-Congo
- Affiliate, CRNS International Epigenetics, Data, and Politics Lab at the George Washington University
Research interest:
- Genomics
- Data Sharing
- Science Diplomacy
- Ethics in Genomics
- History and Philosophy of Science
Employer name:
- The George Washington University
Awards / Honors :
- Fulbright Schuman Award
2021-2022 Grant from the Fulbright Belgium-Luxembourg-Schuman Commission with support from Fulbright Austria to conduct one year of research in Austria and Belgium, on data flows, science diplomacy, and genomics policy between the EU and US. - GW University Seminar Grant
2019-2021 Grant from the Provost at George Washington University for an interdisciplinary collaboration between faculty in the School of Medicine and Health Science and the Elliott School of International Affairs Institute for African Studies - Children’s National Hospital Research, Education and Innovation Week Top Abstract
2021 award for the best abstract of a graduate student in the category Basic and Translational Science - RECOMB 2020 Travel Grant (moved online for pandemic)
2020 award for travel to present a short talk at RECOMB-2020 Padua, Italy. - NIH Distinguished Achievement Award
2017 Award for accomplishments related to the successful role of the National Microbiome Initiative, the key activity of the Fast-Track Action Committee – Mapping Microbiomes, a White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy committee - NHGRI GREAT Award
2015 Award for accomplishments related to Team Sequence activities - Bachelor’s of Science with Distinction in Research
2014 designation for successful defense of an undergraduate dissertation
Brief biography:
Jonathan LoTempio is a PhD Candidate at the George Washington University where he conducts research on high quality human genomics and data sharing with a focus on the political and ethical concerns of both of those facets of science. He presently works under the supervision of Professor Eric Vilain, MD, PhD and is further affiliated with the CNRS-France Epigenetics, Data, and Politics International Research Laboratory, the Institut Nationale de Recherche Biomedical in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Brussels School of Governance at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels.
LoTempio’s primary research interest is at the intersection of high-quality human genomics, ethics in genomics, and the history and philosophy of science. An emergent field from these three interests is science diplomacy, wherein state actors draw on and contribute science, ethics, and history to achieve specific ends. Genomics has historically drawn the majority of its inputs from largely homogenous human populations. Accordingly, the field is confronted with ethical concerns of both the impact of that failure to engage heterogenous human populations and the future, ethical engagement of populations which have been thus far left out. In other words: leaving people out is detrimental to science and health, but remedying this situation must be undertaken with care and respect. Understanding of, and improvement to, the ways in which data move across jurisdictions is critical to ensuring that both sides of this active problem of representativeness are achieved equitably and ethically.
LoTempio holds a bachelor’s of science in biochemistry from the University of Rochester in New York, USA where he conducted research on genomic replication, repair, and stability. He spent three years as a scientific program analyst at the US National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) working on the implementation and management of large-scale human genomics and human microbiome science programs. He also began an ongoing collaboration with the History of Genomics Program at NHGRI.