Pamela Sirota

By Drew Wilson

Pamela Sirota grew up believing she would follow in her father’s footsteps.

The South Florida native imagined going to college, then on to law school before arriving at her destination working as an immigration lawyer.

But her dreams changed in high school, when she took a U.S. govern ment class. It sparked an interest she didn’t know she had — all of a sudden, she was fascinated with policy and the processes that forge it.

When she arrived at Florida State University the next year, she had her major picked out: political science. And, due to an unfortunate turn of events, she already knew how she wanted to put her future degree to use.

During her senior year in high school, Sirota’s father was diagnosed with stage three multiple myeloma, an aggressive blood cancer that required him to undergo a bone marrow trans plant the week after she graduated.

Government and policy were still her primary passions, but her father’s experience renewed her interest in health care. So, when she had the opportunity to become involved with FSU’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, she didn’t think twice. It was through that research into workplace and academic accommodations for individuals with disabilities she discovered that, well, health care policy is kind of a big deal — the kind careers are made of.

Heading into her junior year, her father died due to complications from his second bone marrow transplant. A few weeks later, fate handed her a way to turn her grief into action — as she was scrolling through internship opportunities, she happened upon a posting from the Moffitt Cancer Center Government Relations Team.

Once again, Sirota didn’t think twice. Once they saw her application,

Moffit’s government affairs team didn’t either.

That internship soon turned into a permanent position — one she excels at, according to Jamie Wilson, Moffitt’s Vice President of Government Relations.

“After so many years in this process, I know it’s not every day that you find someone so young who truly has what it takes to succeed in the field,” Wilson said. “As our intern, Pamela’s work ethic and personal story left me so impressed that I knew I had to hire her. She’s a huge asset to our team and I have no doubt she will go very far in her career.”

Sirota started working as a Legislative Affairs Coordinator during a period of rapid growth at Moffitt. The state’s premier cancer facility is in the process of building a medical community that will feature 16 million square feet of space — a bigger footprint than Downtown Tampa — all dedi- cated to researching new and better ways to fight cancer.

State support is crucial, and Moffitt needs everyone to be on their “A” game. Sirota has been and continues to be, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by Moffitt’s State Legislative Affairs Director, Ellen Anderson.

“From the day I met Pamela, I knew she had the grit needed to be successful in the legislative process,” Anderson said. “Not only is her personal story a firebrand, but her self-determination to learn the process is very admirable. I’m so happy to have her as part of our Moffitt Government Relations team.”

Maybe Sirota isn’t brushing up on logic questions in an LSAT prep class or sending cover letters to the T14, but there’s no doubt her father would be beaming, too.