October 1, 2025
The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, a leading health policy think tank, is pleased to announce that Ana Ayala has joined its Center for Transformational Health Law as a Senior Scholar. She previously served as the O’Neill Institute’s director of the global health law LL.M. program from 2015 to 2017, following earlier roles as a law fellow and associate.
“Ana Ayala is an exceptional leader whose policy and legal expertise have advanced the work of the O’Neill Institute, informed U.S. global health strategy at the HHS Office of Global Affairs (OGA), and made progress across the global health community more broadly,” said Sam F. Halabi, director of the Center for Transformational Health Law. “She led the movement to establish the newest Global Health Security Agenda action package on legal preparedness and has served as a critical nexus of public health leaders worldwide, as well as a voice for better and more equitable preparedness. We are so delighted to welcome her back to the O’Neill Institute.”
Ayala holds extensive experience in government and international organizations, working to address a multitude of global and public health challenges. In her role as senior advisor and team lead for Global Health Security and Readiness at OGA, she collaborated with international organizations and ministries of health to advance legal preparedness and health equity, as well as advised government leaders on key issues in global health security. She is now an adjunct professor of public health at the University of San Francisco School of Nursing and Health Professions.
“Ana’s career exemplifies the very best of innovative, rights-based approaches to public health,” said Professor Michele Bratcher Goodwin, Linda D. & Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Constitutional Law and Global Health Policy and faculty director of the O’Neill Institute. “We are proud to recognize her as a Senior Scholar and to continue our collaboration in advancing health and justice worldwide.”
“It is a true honor and privilege to rejoin the O’Neill Institute as a Senior Scholar and once again contribute to its vital mission,” said Ayala. “The O’Neill Institute has long demonstrated that law and legal approaches are not only powerful tools for advancing public health, but essential to achieving sustainable change toward enabling people around the world to live with dignity through the protection of their health.”
“Throughout her career, Ana has helped to shape the global health policy landscape, advancing frameworks that promote cooperation and safeguard communities worldwide,” added Professor Lawrence O. Gostin, founding director of the O’Neill Institute and University Professor at Georgetown Law. “We are honored to name her as a Senior Scholar and look forward to the insights and leadership she will bring to the O’Neill Institute.”
As a Senior Scholar, Ayala will provide strategic leadership and expert guidance to the O’Neill Institute, with a particular focus on global health security. Leveraging her deep expertise, she will play a pivotal role in helping the institute shape global health law through her thought leadership, high-impact publications, and active engagement with partners and the public.
“Global health lawyers have a critical role to play in shaping healthier, more just societies,” added Ayala. “The O’Neill Institute has served as both the bedrock and beacon of global health law — laying the field’s foundations and lighting its path forward through rigorous collaborative research and preparing generations of future global health law leaders.”