Regina LaBelle is a distinguished scholar and director of the Center on Addiction and Public Policy at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center.
Working at the intersection of law and policy, her work focuses on identifying policies to reduce overdoses and using the law to promote access to quality addiction treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support services.
She also founded, directs, and teaches in the Master of Science in Addiction Policy and Practice program at Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Regina was an appointee in the Biden-Harris administration and served as acting director in the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in the Executive Office of the President. The first woman to serve in this position, Regina oversaw the establishment of the Biden-Harris administration’s drug policy priorities, which included a historic focus on harm reduction services. She previously served in the Obama administration as chief of staff at ONDCP and oversaw the agency’s efforts to respond to the opioid epidemic and other drug policy issues, including the implementation of the National Drug Control Strategy.
Prior to her work in the federal government, Regina served as legal counsel to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, providing legal and policy advice to the mayor on high-profile city initiatives. From 1998 to 2005, she was an adjunct professor of policy and ethics at the Seattle University Institute for Policy Studies.
Regina received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her B.A. from Boston College. She is an active member of the Washington State Bar.
