Alison Barkoff

Alison Barkoff is the Harold and Jane Hirsh Associate Professor of Health Law and Policy at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. She also serves as Director of the Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program.

Prior to joining George Washington University in October 2024, Professor Barkoff led the Administration for Community Living (ACL) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, serving in the role of ACL Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging from January 2021 to October 2024.  She was the advisor to the HHS Secretary on aging and disability policy, oversaw national disability and aging programs, and led cross-agency initiatives related to long-term services and supports, civil rights, housing, workforce, family caregiving, healthy aging and public health. She successfully led ACL and supported the aging and disability networks through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Barkoff previously served as Special Counsel for Olmstead Enforcement in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, leading efforts to enforce the rights of people with disabilities of all ages to live and fully participate in their communities. She also led interagency initiatives as Special Policy Advisor with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on long-term services and supports and with the U.S. Department of Labor on direct care workforce issues. She has served in a variety of leadership roles in the non-profit sector, including as Director of Advocacy at the Center for Public Representation and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.  Earlier in her career, she clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor when she was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Judge William Pauley on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.  

For more than 25 years, Professor Barkoff has helped shape the national health landscape, focused on improving the lives of people who face the most significant challenges in accessing health care and other critical services. She is a nationally recognized disability rights lawyer who has led precedent-setting legal advocacy focused on access to health care, the right to community living, and combatting discrimination in health care, housing, and education.  She has impacted national health policy, leading advocacy efforts related to health care, long-term services and supports, behavioral health and Medicaid.  In her roles in federal government, she led the development of federal regulations related to Medicaid, health care discrimination, aging programs, elder justice and workforce.  Professor Barkoff has testified before Congress on disability and aging issues and before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.  

Professor Barkoff is a graduate of Cornell University and Emory University School of Law, where she was the Sol I. Golden Scholar.