Rachel Holtzman is the Policy Fellow in the National Health Law Program’s D.C. office, where she researches health care issues, monitors federal and state legislation, and assists in developing and implementing legal, policy, and advocacy strategies.

Rachel comes to the National Health Law Program after serving two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Palpa District of Nepal, where she led a variety of projects related to community health, agriculture, gender and caste equity, and youth empowerment. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, Rachel worked as a Medical Interpreter for Spanish-speaking patients at Lincoln Community Health Center in Durham, N.C.

Rachel graduated with Highest Honors in 2014 with her Bachelor of Science from the Department of Health Policy and Management, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While in college, Rachel interned at the Children’s Dental Health Project (CDHP) in Washington, DC, where she updated CDHP’s 2012 State Oral Health Plan Comparison Tool, and at the Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority in Cherokee, N.C., where she helped prepare the tribe’s successful application to qualify as a Patient Centered Medical Home with the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Her senior year, Rachel was the Co-Director of the NC Scholars’ Latino Initiative, a mentoring organization that prepares mixed-status Latin@ youth for higher education. Rachel’s BSPH Honors Thesis, “In Person Assisters: Lessons Learned from Enrolling the Uninsured in NC,” was selected for a presentation at the Academy Health State Health Research and Policy Interest Group Meeting in 2014.

A lover of music, Rachel has taken dance and guitar classes for as long as she can remember, and is learning the mandolin.