The Yale Health Law and Policy Society (YHeLPS), in collaboration with the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy, hosted its annual career night on April 13. Panelists spoke to students on their career paths in health law, providing diverse perspectives on their fields and their roles.
This year’s event featured six alumni panelists:
- Stephanie Akpa, Counselor at Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Office of Management and Budget
- Paul Kalb, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP
- Allison Orris, Senior Fellow, Health Policy Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- Adam Pan, Associate, Williams & Connolly
- Allison Zieve, Litigation Group Director, Public Citizen
- Megan Wulff, Director of Market Oversight and Monitoring, Massachusetts Health Policy Commission
The panel kicked off with speakers describing the paths they took to their current positions and how law school impacted each of their routes. Several speakers remarked that it is important to regularly reflect on your role and whether it serves your interests and goals. Panels emphasized the diversity of the expanding field of health law. They stressed the importance of being open to different roles and areas of work. Having flexibility can lead to unforeseen opportunities that may be important and interesting, they noted.
Stephanie Akpa ’09 serves as lead advisor to OIRA Administrator of regulations, guidance documents, and other policies covering the Departments of Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, Labor, and Veterans Affairs and health-related policies at the Department of Defense. In her current role, she engages in cross-cutting projects to modernize and strengthen the regulatory process by advancing equity, reducing administrative burdens, and increasing stakeholder engagement. Previously, she has held positions as the Acting Chief of Staff & Senior Advisor in the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Health Insurance Specialist in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Center for Consumer Information & Insurance.
Dr. Paul Kalb ’90 is a partner at Sidley Austin LLP, where he brings an uncommon clinical perspective, grounded in his experience as an attending physician at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, to bear in his work for a wide range of healthcare clients. He has successfully represented many of the world’s leading drug, biotech and device manufacturers as well as hospitals and other providers in criminal, civil and administrative enforcement actions involving healthcare fraud and abuse and off-label promotion. Many of his cases have involved complex clinical and scientific issues. He has negotiated ground-breaking settlement agreements and Corporate Integrity Agreements.
Allison Orris ’02 specializes in Medicaid and other health programs with a focus on policies to make coverage and health care services available and affordable for people with low incomes. She has more than two decades of experience in health policy, spanning work in the federal government and the nonprofit and private sectors. She held various senior roles at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) during the drafting, passage, and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. While at CMS, she also led Medicaid Section 1115 demonstration negotiations with states to advance Medicaid expansion and delivery system reforms.
Adam Pan ’19 is Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics and the Yale Journal of Law and Technology. Prior to attending Yale, Adam received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for research on computational X-ray phase contrast imaging of human atherosclerotic disease. Adam clerked for Judge Timothy B. Dyk of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. At Williams & Connolly, Adam works with clients at the intersection of health, law, and technology. Adam’s experience includes representing biotechnology companies in Hatch-Waxman and BPCIA litigation, patent disputes, and antitrust matters.
Megan Wulff ’13 is the Director of Market Oversight and Monitoring at the Health Policy Commission (HPC) and has been a member of the HPC staff since graduating from Yale Law School in 2013. Wulff supervises the HPC’s evaluation of the impact of significant provider transactions on health care costs, quality, access, and equity for Massachusetts residents, managing a team of attorneys, economists, and other health care experts. From 2020 to 2022, she also led an HPC data team supporting the state's pandemic response. Prior to the HPC, Wulff interned in the Health Care Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and worked as a research coordinator with Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center and Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
Allison Zieve ’89 is the director of the litigation practice group and general counsel at Public Citizen. Her work addresses public health (such drug safety, food labeling, and tobacco issues), consumer safety and consumer financial protection, open government, federal preemption, class action standards, and First Amendment issues. Many of her cases have involved issues related to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, among other agencies. Allison has argued five cases before the United States Supreme Court and many more in the federal appellate and district courts.
March 31, 2022: Health Law & Policy Career Night with YLS Alums,
The Solomon Center hosted it's annual career night panel with the Yale Health Law and Policy Society, and featured special alumni guests including: Nicholas Oo '20, Adam Pan '19, Paul Rodriguez '11, Emma Roth '17, and Christen Linke-Young '09.
March 25, 2021: Alumni Health Care Law Career Night (Virtual)
The Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy, in conjunction with the student organization Yale Health Law and Policy Society (YHeLPS), co-hosted a virtual panel of esteemed health care law alumni to discuss career paths and opportunities in health law and policy with students.
Panelists: Rachel Clapp '12, Staff Attorney with the HIV/AIDS Representation Project, The Legal Aid, New York City; Sarah Esty ’16, Lecturer, University of Michigan Law School; Julian Polaris ’15, Associate, Manatt Health; and Karen Porter ’89, Associate Professor of Clinical Law and Executive Director of the Center for Health, Science, and Public Policy, Brooklyn Law School.
The panelists provided exposure to a diversity of careers in health law and policy to consider as each had a distinct focus. Clapp works in legal aid, Esty worked in the public sector before recently joining academia in January 2021, Polaris works at a firm advising public sector entities, and Porter is in academia, focusing on public health. More...
April 11, 2019: Solomon Center Hosts Health Care Alumni Panel
The Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy hosted a panel of prominent health care Law School alumni who discussed their career paths and opportunities in the health care field with students.
Panelists included Mary Beckman ’93, Chief of the Health Care and Fair Competition Bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office; Elizabeth Dervan ’17, Law Clerk, Manatt Phelps & Phillips, LLP; Brian Hufford ’85, Partner at Zuckerman Spaeder LLP focusing on disputes with health insurance companies; Maya Kulyckly ’00 Strategic Communications Leader in the Office of the Director of IBM Research, and Brad Middlekauff ’91 General Counsel, Immunovant, Inc.
The panelists represented a variety of paths in and relating to the health care sector. Students posed questions to the panel about various experiences from clerking to how early they would advise specializing in a particular area of practice and the extent to which they engage with substantive health care issues in their work. More...
November 28, 2018: Alumni Mentoring Lunch with Vivek Ramaswamy '13
Vivek Ramaswamy '13, Founder and CEO of Roivant Sciences, met with current law students to discuss careers in pharmaceutical investment and the advances of Artificial Intelligence in health care lunch at Mory's.
November 8, 2018: Law, Finance, and Innovation in Pharmaceutical R&D
Craig Wasserman '86/Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Alumni Breakfast program, The Century Association, 7 West 43rd Street, New York.
Moderator: Abbe R. Gluck ’00, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy, Yale Law School
Panelists: Pablo Legorreta, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Royalty Pharma; Vivek Ramaswamy ’13, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Roivant Sciences; Richard Thakor, Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management; and Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). More…
October 19, 2018: Alumni Mentoring Breakfast with Carmen Castellano-Garcia '91
Carmen Castellano-Garcia ’91, President and Chief Executive Officer of the California Primary Care Association, met with current law students over breakfast to discuss her career path and provide career advice.
June 1, 2017: Health Reform, Law and Policy under the Trump Administration
Boston-area Alumni Breakfast, Ropes & Gray, the Prudential Tower, 800 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts
Moderator: Abbe R. Gluck ’00, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy, Yale Law School
Panelists: William Baer, Former Acting Associate Attorney General and Former Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, US Department of Justice; Roberta Herman, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission; and Peter Leibold ’88, Chief Advocacy Officer for Ascension Health
Thanks to the Solomon Center Boston Alumni Executive Committee for their leadership in planning this breakfast discussion: Mark Barnes ’84, Mary Beckman ’93, Troy Brennan ’84, Brent Henry ’73, Wendy Warring ’83, and Stephen Weiner ’68, and thanks to Ropes & Gray for generously donating event space. More…
Alumni Weekend, October 22 2016: Health Law—Policy, Politics, and Progress
Moderator: Abbe R. Gluck '00, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy, Yale Law School
Panelists: Alex M. Azar II ’91, President, Lilly USA, LLC; Dr. Paul E. Kalb '90, Partner, Sidley Austin; Catherine E. Livingston ’91, Partner, Jones Day; Frank A. Pasquale III ’01, Professor of Law, University of Maryland Carey School of Law
Please find slides from Catherine's and Frank's presentations.
September 20, 2016: Protecting Seniors from Financial Abuse
Panelists: Joseph Brady, Executive Director, North American Securities Administrators Association; Stephen Deane, Investor Engagement Advisor, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Office of the Investor Advocate; Natalie Denburg, Associate Professor of Neurology, the University of Iowa College of Medicine; and Thomas M. Mierswa, Jr., Executive Director, Branch Advisory Group, Legal and Compliance Division, Morgan Stanley; Moderator: Roberta Romano ’80, YLS Sterling Professor of Law and Center Director.
View more photos from the event.
May 11, 2016: Pharma, Science, and Innovation: What Does the Future Hold for the Health Care Industry and for Patients?
On May 11, 2016, the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School and the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law co-hosted an alumni breakfast in New York City on innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. The panel, moderated by Solomon Center Faculty Director Abbe R. Gluck ’00, featured former FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, Merck & Co. CEO Kenneth Frazier, and Aaron Kesselheim, Visiting Professor of Law at Yale Law School and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard. Hamburg and Kesselheim are also Solomon Center distinguished visitors.More…