Hemi Dawn Tewarson, J.D., M.P.H., is an accomplished health policy leader currently serving as the Executive Director of the National Academy for State Health Policy since June 2021, where she provides strategic vision and leadership to improve health policies across the U.S. Previously, she was a Visiting Senior Policy Fellow at the Robert J. Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University, focusing on critical areas such as COVID-19 vaccine access and health equity. She has extensive experience in state health policy, having led the health division at the National Governors Association from 2014 to 2020, where she developed innovative projects and secured multi-million-dollar grants to support state initiatives. Her legal expertise includes serving as a Senior Attorney at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, where she advised on various health care issues and received multiple awards for her outstanding performance. Hemi holds a Juris Doctor with honors and a Master of Public Health from George Washington University, along with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.