Chris focuses on legal issues related to the collection, maintenance, use, and storage of data for public health purposes. She also provides legal technical assistance and training related to legal issues around data, using plain English to relay often complex concepts and break down the inaccessibility of legal information.
The granddaughter of four immigrants and influenced by their experiences , Chris chose careers focused on mission-driven work. She served on the political organizing staff of ACORN, then directed a state chapter of the National Lawyers Guild in Boston where she co-founded and led a Street Law Clinic for youth on their 4th Amendment rights when stopped by police. After law school she joined Atlanta Legal Aid, initially representing clients in housing conditions cases then public benefits, domestic violence, and other civil matters, ultimately managing a community branch office. She later represented immigrants in tax controversies as the coordinator of a Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic and trained clients on US taxpayer rights and responsibilities. Transitioning to practicing health law, she became a SME on the Affordable Care Act for a dental benefits company and later its privacy officer and director of health policy, leading its compliance program and lobbying for greater recognition of oral health’s role in overall health. Most recently she was Privacy Legal Counsel and Director of Solutions Integration on a CMS-funded DSRIP (Medicaid waiver) project in New Hampshire, connecting the legal issues in data sharing with the technical ones. The overall project resulted in improved care coordination for patients/clients regionally and greater health data sharing among local clinical, social service, education, criminal justice, and other sectors.
Chris assisted in the development of the health sector section of the NH Endowment for Health’s multi-sector Action Plan as part of its “Race & Equity in NH Series: Building Foundations for a More Equitable Future for All”. Her other recent volunteer work has included providing humanitarian relief and legal information to detained immigrants, annually judging high school civics, coordinating fundraising for her daughter’s school music program, and Board membership with her local Habitat for Humanity.
Chris received her Juris Doctorate from Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, MA and bachelor’s degrees in sociology and marketing from UMass/Amherst. She is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts, Georgia, and New Hampshire and is the mom of a fledgling adult. She regularly sends up thanks for the people who’ve given her all the opportunities above that not only put food on the table, but also fed her soul.
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