Lisa Shapiro Vice President, Health Policy

Lisa Shapiro has more than 15 years of experience working in the public, non-profit and private sectors on federal health policy issues with a primary focus on children, the uninsured and underserved populations. Since 2007, Lisa’s work at First Focus has centered on efforts to improve health coverage for low-income children through public programs, including the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicaid. Lisa also works on public health issues affecting children, including child nutrition, obesity, environmental health, and asthma. Lisa also focuses on Affordable Care Act implementation issues related to children. From grassroots advocacy and strategic policy engagement to providing technical assistance for public and non-profit stakeholders, Lisa is a well-regarded expert on policy and strategy regarding child health coverage systems.

Prior to joining First Focus, on Capitol Hill, Lisa was a congressional fellow in the office of Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) where she assisted in the development of legislation on a broad range of health issues, including proposals to: improve Medicaid and CHIP outreach and enrollment systems, increase funding for programs to counter the childhood obesity epidemic; ensure prescription drug coverage for children eligible for Medicare Part D; maintain Medicaid coverage for foster care children and infants born to immigrant mothers eligible for emergency Medicaid; increase the availability of federal Medicaid funds for states during economic recession; and protect essential funding streams for safety net providers.

In the private sector, Lisa formulated policy for non-profit clients and advocated on issues to preserve and extend the health care safety net and improve access to health care services for underserved populations. She also provided strategic policy advice to national voluntary health organizations on public health concerns, including health promotion and chronic disease prevention.

Lisa also worked for the Society for Women’s Health Research on a broad range of legislative and regulatory issues related to women’s health, maternal and child health and biomedical research.

Lisa has an M.P.A. from the Virginia Tech Center for Public Administration and Policy. She received her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Lisa lives in Arlington, VA with her husband Hal and two sons.