New fellowship recognizes leading practitioners whose expertise comes from advancing access to social insurance in practice.
Washington, D.C. — The National Academy of Social Insurance today announced that Julia Simon-Mishel and Jen Burdick have been named the Academy’s inaugural Fellows of Practice. The new fellowship recognizes distinguished practitioners whose expertise in social insurance is grounded in direct service, implementation, and real-world problem solving, strengthening the Academy’s work by bringing frontline experience into research and policy development.
“Julia and Jen are among the nation’s leading experts on social insurance—not only because they know the ins and outs of critical programs like unemployment insurance, Social Security Disability Insurance, and SSI, but because they help people navigate them every day,” said Rebecca Vallas, CEO of the National Academy of Social Insurance. “The Academy’s new Fellows of Practice program recognizes a simple but powerful truth: the people who work on the front lines of our social insurance system have expertise that is indispensable to improving it. Eligibility for benefits does not guarantee access, and ensuring people can actually receive the support they have earned is one of the most important—and too often overlooked—aspects of strengthening social insurance. We are thrilled to welcome Julia and Jen as our inaugural Fellows of Practice and look forward to the insight they will bring to the Academy’s work.”
Julia Simon-Mishel is the Supervising Attorney of the Unemployment Compensation Unit at Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA), where she represents low-wage workers in unemployment matters. She is a nationally recognized expert on unemployment insurance access and modernization and previously co-chaired the National Academy of Social Insurance’s UI Modernization Task Force. Her research and advocacy focus on how technology can improve access to benefits and how to prevent harmful uses of automated decision-making in benefit programs. She was co-principal investigator and author of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded report “Centering Workers: How to Modernize Unemployment Insurance Technology.” She previously served by appointment on Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation Benefit Modernization Advisory Committee and has testified by invitation many times before the Pennsylvania legislature on issues affecting her clients. She is a recipient of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) New Leaders in Advocacy Award and has been named one of the American Bar Association’s “On the Rise: Top 40 Young Lawyers.” Before joining PLA, she clerked for the Honorable Norma L. Shapiro of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and from Brandeis University.
“I am honored to be named a Practice Fellow with the National Academy of Social Insurance,” said Julia. “In the face of technological change and economic uncertainty, unemployment insurance is a vital bridge—my clients at Philadelphia Legal Assistance always want good jobs, but they need the social insurance system to support them if a job is not immediately available. I look forward to collaborating with the Academy to connect policy and technology development with the on-the-ground realities of people’s lives and to modernize unemployment insurance so it works for every worker.”
Jen Burdick is a Divisional Supervising Attorney in the SSI Unit and Duffy Fellow at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, where she represents adults and children facing issues attaining and maintaining SSI benefits in administrative hearings and federal court. She is a leading expert on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit access and advocates nationally for systemic reforms to improve the lives of people with disabilities. She is Co-Chair of the Academy’s Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, Emerging Technology, and Disability Benefits, which released its Phase One Report in April 2025. She also co-chairs the Consortium of Constituents with Disabilities Social Security Task Force and has testified before Congress and the Senate on issues related to her clients. Burdick became the first CLS recipient of the Duffy Fellowship in 2013, which was funded by The Duffy Firm to help low-income Philadelphians navigate complex systems to access life-saving benefits. Prior to joining CLS, she clerked for Judge Van Antwerpen of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and worked at Dechert LLP. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Temple University Law School and her B.A. from Vassar College.
“I am thrilled to join the National Academy of Social Insurance as a Practice Fellow,” said Jen. “My clients and their families rely on Social Security benefits as an absolutely essential income source. The work to ensure that people with disabilities can access the benefits they are entitled to—especially as AI reshapes how those determinations are made—has never been more urgent. I look forward to leveraging this new role to connect the on-the-ground realities of SSI practice with the Academy’s cutting-edge research and to advance policies that truly protect people.”
About the National Academy of Social Insurance
Founded in 1986, the National Academy of Social Insurance is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that brings together the nation’s leading experts on social insurance policy, practice, research, and innovation. For nearly 40 years, the Academy and its powerful, diverse member network have championed the safeguarding, strengthening, and modernizing of social insurance and worked to increase public understanding of how it contributes to economic security.
Contact: Zane Snyder Cox, zsnydercox@nasi.org