Gates Palissery is the Hellman & Simons Fellow in Science and Technology Policy working in the Science, Engineering, and Technology Program area. She earned her PhD in Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health from Virginia Tech. While working on her PhD, she served as a 2024 Commonwealth of Virginia Engineering and Science (COVES) Policy Fellow, where she worked with Senator Lashrecse Aird and Virginia's Joint Commission on Technology and Science. She completed her B.S. in Neuroscience and Creative Writing at Carnegie Mellon University.