About
I work at the intersection of medicine, health policy, and public health. I have used my skills and experience to advocate for evidence-based policies at the federal and state level that have resulted in concrete public health improvements.
My interest in health policy began during medical school as I saw the critical importance of policy issues such as access to affordable high-quality care that went beyond the medical school curriculum; to pursue that interest, I simultaneously obtained a masters in public health.
Since then I have applied these skills inside and outside of federal and state government, including my work as:
- Senior Clinical Advisor to the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
- Health and Human Services Advisor to the Connecticut Senate President
- Director of Health Care Programs at The Pew Charitable Trusts where I ran multimillion dollar projects that successfully advocated for policy change
I live in Washington DC, where I spend as much time outdoors as possible, with my wife and three kids.
Follow this link to see my full resume.
Work
Good health policy improves people’s lives. I have decades of experience working with organizations and governments to develop and implement policies to improve the health and wellness of their stakeholders through regulatory and legislative changes. Through research, analysis, convenings, and communication, I can help you reach and exceed your goals.
Do you need to understand the impact of federal health policy changes on your organization? Does your organization want to change state and/or federal policies to better meet the needs of your members and clients? Do you need to plan a meeting to advance key topics? Are you a service organization seeking to understand and implement best practices? I can help.
Sample projects
Below are some of the projects I have worked on as founder of Rising Health Strategies.
Putting opioid settlement dollars to work
States generally squandered the dollars they received from the master settlement against tobacco companies, with only a small fraction of the dollars going to tobacco control and treatment. The same thing could occur with money from litigation against companies in the opioid space. Leading a team based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, I developed a set of five principles outlining how jurisdictions should decide how to spend the money and built a coalition of over sixty organizations to endorse them. These principles will now be used by groups at the state and local level to hold their elected officials accountable.
Evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder
I identified and published recommendations on how the federal government could improve access to evidence-based care for people with an opioid use disorder in correctional facilities
Role of e-cigarettes in youth smoking initiation and adult smoking cessation
I reviewed and summarized the peer-reviewed literature around the contribution of e-cigarettes to youth smoking and adult cessation, and the provided the implications of the findings for policy development and advocacy.
Analyzed new funding models for whole child health
Led development of a coalition that developed key elements for building whole child health models. Co-authored a case study demonstrating how Massachusetts implemented a new model for financing whole child health and the lessons learned from the experience.
Areas of expertise
- Substance use, including tobacco and opioids;
- FDA regulation of medical products;
- Mental and behavioral health;
- End-of-life care.
Contact
Contact me to talk about what we can do together.