Catherine Oakar

Catherine Oakar currently serves as Special Assistant to the President for Public Health and Disparities in the Domestic Policy Council at the White House. Prior to her current role, she served on the Biden-Harris Transition and led the hiring of incoming Presidential appointees for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She has also served as a Senior Advisor at Waxman Strategies consulting on public health, nutrition, and health care issues. During the Obama-Biden Administration, she served at the White House as the Associate Director of the Let’s Move! initiative in the First Lady’s office and as a Senior Advisor in the Office of National AIDS Policy. Oakar was also the Director of Public Health Policy in the Office of Health Reform at HHS. She began her work in Washington, D.C. as a Winston Health Policy Fellow. She has also conducted community-based research with low-income cancer survivors and safety net clinics and served as a Fellow at the World Health Organization. Oakar graduated from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Michigan School of Public Health.