Madeline Morcelle, JD, MPH, is a senior attorney at the National Health Law Program, where she works to promote reproductive and sexual health care access, reproductive justice, and health equity for immigrants and other underserved populations through Medicaid and federal health care reform.
Before joining NHeLP, Madeline served as director of Public Benefits Law at the Mississippi Center for Justice. There, she oversaw community lawyering and policy advocacy efforts to dismantle structural barriers to health and well-being for Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, immigrants, and women with low incomes. Previously, she was an attorney with the Network for Public Health Law, and helped public health professionals, policymakers, and advocates understand, navigate, and wield law and policy to build healthier and more equitable communities. She was also a research scholar at the Center for Public Health Law and Policy, Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law, and focused her research, teaching, and practice on the law, policy, and politics of health justice. Earlier, she served as a policy lead on population health, pediatric health equity, and chronic health condition issues at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). There, she designed payment and delivery system reforms, drafted regulations, co-chaired an interagency policy committee, and managed a portfolio of multimillion-dollar policy research investments.
Madeline holds a MPH in Health Policy from Harvard University, JD from Washington and Lee University, and BA in English, Phi Beta Kappa, from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is a past Mississippi Women’s Policy Institute fellow. Her work to advance equitable health care access has been recognized through CMS’ Special Achievement Award and Execution of Major Projects Award, and Harvard’s James H. Ware Award for Achievement in the Practice of Public Health. She is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Mississippi (inactive), and Arizona (inactive).
Beyond her work with NHeLP, Madeline serves as a leadership development coach with the Public Health Leadership Lab at Harvard. She also serves on the board of directors for Converge: Partners in Access, a reproductive health organization based in Jackson, Mississippi, and the stakeholder committee of Resources for Abortion Delivery. She revels in voracious reading, practicing mindfulness and yoga, and soaking up time with her cheeky Black cat, Finn.
