Ruth Katz

Ruth J. Katz is a vice president and executive director of the Health, Medicine, and Society (HMS) Program at the Washington, DC-based Aspen Institute. The HMS Program brings together thought leaders, decision-makers, and the informed public to consider health challenges facing the US in the 21st century and to identify practical solutions for addressing them.

From 2009–2013, Katz served as chief public health counsel (Democratic staff) with the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the US House of Representatives. Previously, she was the Walter G. Ross professor of health policy in the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University and served as dean of the school from 2003–2008. Katz was also the associate dean for administration at Yale University School of Medicine, where she held appointments in the departments of Internal Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health as an assistant professor.

Katz has served on the board of directors of the CDC Foundation and NARAL Pro-Choice America and has been a trustee of Emory University. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a law degree from Emory University and a master of public health from Harvard University.