Speakers

Lisa sees Healing Politics as the culmination of a career that was grounded in clinical care and education before expanding to policy and advocacy. Lisa practiced clinically for 20 years as a nurse and midwife and held faculty positions in schools of nursing and medicine before shifting to health policy work. She spent 11 years at the American College of Nurse-Midwives, where she was Director of Professional Services, and held policy positions at the American Nurses Association and Centering Healthcare Institute. She has spoken and written widely on healthcare policy and advocacy and, for 10 years prior to co-founding Healing Politics, taught health policy at Yale School of Nursing.

Education: BSN University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; MSN Yale University School of Nursing; DrPH Columbia University.

Chris Towner is the Policy Director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, where he analyzes budget, tax, health, and retirement policy as well as manages the day-to-day workflow of the policy team. Prior to this, Chris advocated for children in federal budget issues at First Focus on Children, leading the annual production of First Focus's Children's Budget. This is Chris's second stint at the Committee; he was previously a policy analyst after serving in a variety of positions beginning as an intern. Chris was the lead analyst for the McCrery-Pomeroy SSDI Solutions Initiative, where he managed the production and publication of two volumes on improving the Social Security Disability Insurance program. Chris was elected as a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance in 2022. Originally hailing from just outside Chicago, Illinois, Chris holds a bachelor's degree and master's degree in Political Science from Boston University. His pronouns are he/him/his. Contact him at towner@crfb.org.