- Pritzker Fellows
- Former Fellows
- Kathleen Sebelius
Kathleen Sebelius
Former Secretary of Health & Human Services Department & Governor of Kansas
Biography
Kathleen Sebelius is one of America’s foremost experts on national and global health issues, human services, and executive leadership. As CEO of Sebelius Resources LLC, she provides strategic advice to companies, investors, and non-profit organizations.
Sebelius serves on the Board of Directors of Dermira, Grand Rounds, Humacyte, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Myovant Sciences. She co-chairs the Aspen Institute Health Strategy Group and serves on advisory boards for the Dole Institute of Politics, Solera Health, Out Leadership, and the Estée Lauder Foundation.
From April 2009 through June 2014, Sebelius served in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet as the 21st Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, where she worked to pass and implement the Affordable Care Act. At HHS, Sebelius managed 11 operating agencies, 90,000 employees in 50 countries around the world, and a $1 trillion budget. Forbes named Sebelius one of the 100 most powerful women in the world.
Having served as Governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009, Sebelius is the only daughter of a governor to be elected governor in American history; her late father, John Gilligan, was Governor of Ohio. Time magazine named her one of America’s Top Five Governors. Previous elected offices include two terms as the Kansas insurance commissioner and four terms in the Kansas Legislature.
Sebelius earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Kansas and a bachelor of arts degree from Trinity Washington University. She is married to Gary Sebelius, a federal magistrate judge. They have two married sons, Ned and John, and two grandsons, George and Hugh.
Seminars
“What the Health? Why It Matters to All of Us”
Mahatma Gandhi said, “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold or silver.” And over 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”
As Americans, we spend more on health care than any other nation on earth, our health outcomes are mediocre at best, and we are the only developed country without some form of universal health care.
This seminar will explore four unique health topics, and we will discuss the policies, politics, economics, and personal impact of decisions made about health in the United States. Guests will include former national and local officials and providers who have unique perspectives and expertise on the subjects.
This session will explore the role the United States plays in bringing innovative, life-saving drugs to market; the critical balance between speed and consumer protection in testing/regulating drug approval; and why American consumers pay the highest prices for all drugs, even those developed in the United States. This discussion will look at ways the current system can be improved and what is essential to protect consumers and give patients access to life-saving remedies.
Special Guest: Margaret Hamburg, MD, Foreign Secretary for the National Academy of Medicine & former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
This session will look at the impact on our country from Medicaid, the largest insurance program in America, covering 74 million people. Medicaid represents the biggest annual transfer of funds from the federal treasury to state budgets and is a 52-year-old state/federal partnership that has served as the health safety net in this country. The Republican majority in Congress is seeking to dramatically cut Medicaid, impacting millions of beneficiaries and every state budget in America.
Special Guest: Tom Fisher, MD, MPH, President of Next Level Health, Emergency Room Doctor & former White House Fellow
This session will look at the collaboration between the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education to develop an opportunity for every child in America to acquire the social, emotional and education tools to enter school ready to learn and succeed. The investments made prior to age 3 are critical, and long-term studies show that quality health and early learning programs can make a lifetime of difference. Some progress has been made, but the United States is way behind other industrialized countries in getting all our children launched with a healthy start.
Special Guest: Arne Duncan, Managing Partner of the Emerson Collective
This session will look the Affordable Care Act, from a campaign proposal by President Obama to the first comprehensive health reform law enacted in America in over 50 years. We will discuss the politics and economics of the health law, who was helped and hurt, and what has been proposed (or perhaps passed) to roll back and replace this framework that has moved America a lot closer to universal health coverage.
Special Guest: David Axelrod, Director of the Institute of Politics