Katie Keith is the founding director of the Center for Health Policy and the Law at the O’Neill Institute, where she oversees the center’s work on demystifying the important role that litigation and the courts play in health policy. As director, Keith advises policymakers and conducts research on a range of health policy legal issues with an emphasis on access to coverage, affordability, transparency, and equity.
Keith is also a lead contributor of rapid response analysis for the “Health Policy at a Crossroads” series for Health Affairs Forefront and maintains a faculty appointment at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. Her analysis is regularly featured in national and state media outlets across the country.
From 2022 to 2025, Keith was on public service leave from the O’Neill Institute to serve as deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the first-ever White House Gender Policy Council. President Biden established the Gender Policy Council in 2021 to advance the rights of women and girls across domestic and foreign policy. As deputy director, Keith oversaw the council’s domestic policy portfolio and spearheaded the administration’s efforts to defend reproductive rights, advance research on women’s health, promote women’s economic security, and prevent and end gender-based violence.
Keith is a co-founder of Out2Enroll, a national initiative to connect LGBTQ people with coverage options, and previously served as an appointed consumer representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Prior to joining the O’Neill Institute, Keith advised nonprofit and foundation clients on ways to secure state and federal health care priorities and served as both an AmeriCorps program director in Las Vegas and as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana. She also taught courses at Georgetown Law on the Affordable Care and LGBTQ health policy.
Keith received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, her Master’s in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, and her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.
