Shirin Lotfi is the former executive assistant at the Center for Israel Studies in Amman, Jordan and a former media and communications assistant to Israel parliament member Sharren Haskel (then Likud), where she advised on issues of foreign policy and the EU. Shirin has been politically active since she was fourteen, when she co-founded an NGO in Iran with her mother. During her undergraduate years, she spent extensive time conducting field research on nuclear policy in the Middle East, including Jordan’s emerging nuclear program. She is also a former research fellow at the Harvard Belfer Center on Iran’s nuclear program during the signing of the JCPOA.

Shirin speaks five languages, including Farsi, Arabic, Hebrew and Urdu; and she has worked in London, Amman and Jerusalem. Shirin received her bachelor’s degree in political science and international security with honors from the University of Washington, where she received eleven scholarships for her research and leadership, including the U.S Department of State Benjamin Gilman scholarship, the Carnegie Endowment for junior fellowship, Mary Gates leadership scholarship, and the Stroum Jewish travel grant. She pursued her master’s degree from the Hebrew University in Israel.

She is a former regional (VA) organizer for Michael Bloomberg‘s presidential campaign and previously worked for the offices’ of three Senators. She is a former researcher on Foreign Policy for the State Director of Kamala Harris (CA-D); an immigration outreach liaison for Patty Murray (WA-D); and an intern for office director of Maria Cantwell (WA-D). She is a Certified Paralegal from the George Washington University and is pursuing a Juris Doctorate degree. She is an active member of the Young Professionals in Foreign Policy and the Pacific Council on International Policy.