Karen Davenport, Director of Health Policy

Karen Davenport, Director of Health Policy at the National Women's Law Center, has focused her career on advocacy, research and public policy development dedicated to improving Americans' access to health care. Before joining NWLC, she worked as a Research Project Director and Lecturer in the George Washington University's Department of Health Policy, and as the Director of Health Policy at the Center for American Progress, where she directed health policy research and advocacy, with a particular focus on health care reform. As a Senior Program Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, she developed and managed national programs dedicated to increasing health insurance coverage for children and families and improving long-term care financing and services for frail elders and people with disabilities. As a Legislative Assistant to Senator Bob Kerrey, she was responsible for staffing the Senator's work on Medicare, Medicaid, public health, welfare and social issues. Her earlier federal experience includes serving as a specialist in Medicaid legislation for the Health Care Financing Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services). Davenport earned an MPA from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a BA in political science from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.