Kate Shamszad, MS, MPH, CCLS

Kate Shamszad serves as the Director of Policy and is committed to improving health care equity, access, and affordability for all New Jerseyans. Kate’s work revolves around identifying evidence-based solutions to enhance health care policy and systems, and addressing emerging challenges in payment, service delivery, and program administration.  She serves as a leader throughout the state, serving on the New Jersey Centering Alliance Advisory Committee and the New Jersey Advisory Board for the Evaluating Lifelines for Moms (ELM) PCORI research project.  She has previously served on the executive committee of the Association of Child Life Professionals Board of Directors.

Before joining the Institute, Kate held the role of Clinical Director of Child Life and Integrative Care at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center as part of the hospital administrative team. At Cincinnati Children’s, Kate served as a leader and mentor for quality improvement and transformation projects, using improvement science and human-centered design to improve patient safety and experience.  Kate has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from George Washington University, a Master of Science in Child Life from Bank Street College of Education, and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of West Florida. She is also a Certified Child Life Specialist.