Archives: People

Dara Alpert Lieberman is TFAH’s Director of Government Relations, overseeing the development and implementation of federal government relations strategies and working to advance and ensure implementation of TFAH policy priorities. Prior to that, Dara served as TFAH’s Senior Government Relations Manager, leading the organization’s advocacy around infectious disease prevention, disease surveillance, and strengthening the nation’s public health emergency preparedness and response capabilities. Ms. Lieberman previously served as a legislative representative for the American Counseling Association, where she advocated for mental health access issues. Ms. Lieberman has also served as a staff member for the Senate Committee on Armed Services.

She secured an MPP from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. She graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Public Policy Studies from Duke University. She also serves on the board of directors for the Coalition for Health Funding, a nonprofit alliance working to preserve and strengthen public health investments.

Molly Warren is a Senior Health Policy Researcher and Analyst at TFAH. Prior to joining TFAH, Molly served in policy and research roles at Enroll America, an organization focused on maximizing healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Previously she worked in other areas of healthcare reform and injury prevention at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Community Catalyst, the State of Vermont, and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Warren holds a Master’s degree in health policy from the Harvard School of Public Health and a Bachelor’s degree in history and art from Colby College.

Matt McKillop is a Senior Health Policy Researcher and Analyst. He is the lead writer on selected TFAH reports and helps to manage TFAH’s overall research and strategic communications program. Before joining TFAH, McKillop managed research on state health and fiscal policy at The Pew Charitable Trusts, including examinations of spending on care for people in prisons and jails, whether and how care quality was monitored, and promising practices for facilitating continued care after incarcerated people were released. He also led advocacy and community organizing campaigns for So Others Might Eat, a nonprofit organization that serves poor and homeless residents of the District of Columbia.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Kalamazoo College and a master’s in public policy from George Washington University.

Rhea K. Farberman is the Director of Strategic Communications and Policy Research at TFAH. In that role, she manages TFAH’s reports creation process and executes TFAH’s strategies to communicate its work to policymakers, stakeholder organizations and the news media. Farberman is an experienced communications strategist and manager with specific experience in the health, social science and science sectors. In her most recent position, Farberman served as the Senior Director for Marketing and Communications at the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), a national foundation funding research on inherited blindness. At FFB, Farberman created programs to support the Foundation’s $25 million annual fundraising and grant-making program and educate the public about emerging cures for inherited blindness.

From 1993-2015, Farberman served as the Executive Director for Public and Member Communications at the American Psychological Association. In that position, she directed the association’s public affairs, public education and media relations programs, served as the executive editor of APA’s magazine, The Monitor, and as the Association’s national spokesperson. Her work included communicating about psychological research and the application of that research to health and human welfare. Farberman served as the Director of Public Affairs for the National Council on the Public Service (1992) and the White House Conference on Library and Information Services (1991). She has additionally managed federal public information and education projects, including the 1990 Census media outreach campaign. Farberman is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and served on PRSA’s Healthcare Academy Board of Directors (1995-2000). She is an honors graduate of The American University’s School of Communications and completed graduate studies in publications management at George Washington University.

Dr. J. Nadine Gracia is the President and CEO of Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), a nonprofit, nonpartisan public health policy, research and advocacy organization that promotes optimal health for every person and community. Dr. Gracia is a national health equity leader with extensive leadership experience in federal government, the nonprofit sector, academia, and professional associations. As President and CEO, she leads TFAH’s work to advance sound public health policy, advance health equity, address the social determinants of health, and make health promotion and disease prevention a national priority.

Before being appointed President and CEO, Dr. Gracia served as TFAH’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In that role, she developed and implemented strategic policy priorities and managed TFAH’s business operations. She also strengthened and broadened partnership relations focused on health equity.

Prior to joining TFAH, Dr. Gracia served in the Obama Administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health and Director of the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In that capacity, she directed departmental policies and programs to end health disparities and advance health equity, and provided executive leadership on administration priorities including the Affordable Care Act and My Brother’s Keeper.  Previously, she served as Chief Medical Officer in the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, where her portfolio included adolescent health, emergency preparedness, environmental health and climate change, global health, and the White House Council on Women and Girls. Prior to that role, she was appointed as a White House Fellow at HHS and worked in the Office of the First Lady on the development of the Let’s Move! initiative to solve childhood obesity.

 A first-generation Haitian-American, Dr. Gracia received a Bachelor’s degree in French from Stanford University, a medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed pediatrics residency at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and later was a clinical instructor and research fellow at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she conducted research on community risk factors for violence. 

In 2023, Dr. Gracia was appointed by President Biden to a two-year term as a member of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. In addition, Dr. Gracia is active in many professional and civic organizations, including the Aspen Global Leadership Network, the Dean’s Council at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, and the National Academy of Medicine Culture of Health Program Advisory Committee. She is an Ex Officio Member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Roundtable on Obesity Solutions, a member of the Milken Institute Center for Public Health Advisory Board, and a member of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) Advisory Board at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In addition, she serves on the Board of Directors of Vaccinate Your Family and the Global NGO Executive Committee. She is a member of Women of Impact, and the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated