Counselors of the Secretary
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Rima Cohen
Counselor to the Secretary for Health Policy
E-mail: Counselors@hhs.gov
Phone: (202) 690-7000
Video:
Rima Cohen is the Counselor to the Secretary for Health Policy at the Department of Health & Human Services. In this role, she provides advice to the HHS Secretary on a range of health care matters and helps to develop and lead Administration initiatives related to programs administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Agency for Health Care Quality and Research, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and the Office of Civil Rights. Prior to assuming this position in the Obama Administration, Ms. Cohen was the Director of Health and Social Services for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, where she oversaw the City’s health care programs and agencies, including Medicaid, the City’s public hospital and health care system, and the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. Cohen also spent a decade on Capitol Hill as former-Democratic Leader Tom Daschle’s senior health policy advisor, and she founded and directed Insurance Options for the Uninsured (IOU), a project that developed and implemented strategies for expanding health insurance coverage in New York.
Ms. Cohen has a master’s degree in economics and public policy from Princeton and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan; she also did undergraduate work at the London School of Economics. After graduate school, Cohen was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study program evaluation methods employed by U.S. NGOs operating in Indonesia.
Ms. Cohen lives with her husband and daughter in New York City and Washington DC.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Caya B. Lewis, MPH
Counselor to the Secretary for Science and Public Health
E-mail: Counselors@hhs.gov
Phone: (202) 690-7000
Video:
Caya B. Lewis is the Counselor to the Secretary for Science and Public Health at the Department of Health & Human Services. In this role, she provides advice to the HHS Secretary on a range of public health and science issues and helps to develop and lead Administration initiatives related to programs administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration, Indian Health Service, National Institutes of Health, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. Prior to assuming this position in the Obama Administration, Ms. Lewis was the Chief of Staff for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). As Chief of Staff, she served as primary advisor to the CMS Administrator and as a liaison between the Administrator, CMS staff, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and The White House. Before joining CMS, Ms. Lewis was Director of Outreach and Public Health Policy with the Office of Health Reform at HHS. She also formerly worked for Senator Edward M. Kennedy as the Deputy Staff Director for Health for the U.S. Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, and as a Senior Policy Analyst and Director of the Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program for the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. She graduated from Spelman College and from the University of Michigan School of Public Health with a Master of Public Health degree.
