Heather Howard is professor of the practice and director, State Health and Value Strategies, at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and co-director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing’s Global Health Program and director of State Health and Value Strategies, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation–funded program focused on assisting states with transforming their health care systems to be affordable, equitable, and innovative. She served as New Jersey’s commissioner of health and senior services from 2008 to 2010, overseeing a cabinet-level agency with a budget of $3.5 billion and staff of 1,700 responsible for public health services, regulation of health care institutions, senior services, and health care policy and research.
Previously, Howard served as Governor Jon Corzine’s chief policy counsel, directing his policy agenda. She also has significant federal experience, having worked as Senator Corzine’s chief of staff, as associate director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and senior policy advisor for First Lady Hillary Clinton, as an honors attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division Health Care Task Force, and for the U.S. House of Representatives. She received her JD, cum laude, from the New York University School of Law, and her BA, cum laude, from Duke University.