In honor of the late Cassandra Q. Butts, family, friends, and colleagues started an endowed fellowship within the Women’s Law & Public Policy Fellowship Program at Georgetown University Law Center, in partnership with National Health Law Program. This fund will support the Women’s Law & Public Policy Fellowship Program, of which she was an alumna. One Fellowship will be awarded annually in perpetuity to support the work of a law graduate committed to advancing women’s access to comprehensive health care. The fellow will be placed at National Health Law Program, which has trained a generation of advocates to enforce health care rights.
Ms. Butts came to Washington, D.C. as a Women’s Law & Public Policy Fellow in 1991-1992 and began her legal career at National Health Law Program, working to advance social justice by increasing access to health care for vulnerable populations.
A 1987 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ms. Butts worked as a researcher for the African News Service in Durham before attending Harvard Law School. There she met future president Barack Obama when they were filling out financial-aid forms. Along with Valerie Jarrett, Susan E. Rice and others, Ms. Butts was described as one of the President and First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Sisterhood” of advisers. The President echoed the thoughts of countless others when he eulogized her as “a warrior for social justice, a warm and generous servant who devoted her life to bettering the lives of others, and an unbelievable friend.”
National Health Law Program looks forward to hosting Cassandra Q. Butts Fellows to enable future generations of advocates to receive the highest quality training to advance the health care rights of women in Ms. Butts’ memory.
The Cassandra Q. Butts Fellowship is not fully funded and therefore not yet available. To make a contribution to support the fellowship, please visit the Fellowship page at Georgetown Law here.
