Jeanne Lambrew is director of health care reform and senior fellow at The Century Foundation. From 2019 to 2024, she served as the commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. As commissioner, Lambrew helped expand and improve affordable health care to more than 100,000 people, bringing the state’s uninsured rate to its lowest point ever; contributed to Maine’s nation-leading COVID-19 response, including the highest vaccination rate of older residents and one of the lowest death rates in the country; and made historic investments in health and human services.
From 2017 to 2018, Dr. Lambrew focused on health policy and reform as a senior fellow at The Century Foundation and adjunct professor at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Previously, she was a senior official in President Obama’s administration, first as director of the Office of Health Reform at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where she worked on passage of the landmark Affordable Care Act (ACA). From 2011 to January 2017, she served as President Obama’s deputy assistant for health policy, guiding the implementation of the ACA as well as initiatives to improve the quality and value of Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and public health.
Prior to joining the Obama administration, Dr. Lambrew was an associate professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs in Austin, Texas (2007–2008) and the George Washington University School of Public Health (2001–2007). She was a senior fellow for health policy at the Center for American Progress (2003–2007).
Dr. Lambrew also served in policy positions in the Clinton Administration’s HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (1993–1995), the White House National Economic Council (1997–1999), and the White House Office of Management and Budget (2000–2001).
She received her master’s and doctoral degrees in public health and health policy from the University of North Carolina’s school of public health and her bachelor’s degree from Amherst College.