Florida Health Justice Project Welcomes New Executive Director, Alison Yager, J.D.

​Florida Health Justice Project (FHJP), a nonprofit health advocacy organization based in Miami, Florida, is pleased to announce the appointment ofAlison Yager, J.D. as the new Executive Director, effective March 1.  Yager has been serving as Deputy Executive Director. 

Yager will lead the health justice organization at a time the U.S. and Florida face profound health access and equity challenges.

“We confront twin health and economic crises,” Yager said, “Structural racism has taken its toll, in part, as persistent and widespread health disparities.”

Outgoing Executive Director Miriam Harmatz, who founded the organization in late 2017, praised Alison for her leadership and accomplishments: “Alison brings extraordinary expertise and vision to FHJP’s intersecting work in poverty health law and public health. She will be a fantastic leader.” 

While at FHJP, Yager has authored several critical reports on Medicaid impacts on Maternal Health, including postpartum care, Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System in Florida and the need to expand Medicaid to save lives and secure access to affordable health care for working poor Floridians.

Harmatz will remain a full-time member of the FHJP team as the innovative poverty health law organization continues its work to help Florida residents overcome the state’s tremendous health justice challenges. 
 
Yager added: “FHJP has proven its ability to make change even in the face of the most hostile of conditions.  Together, with our hugely talented team and the support of our board, I am thrilled to help move this amazing organization forward into our next chapter,” she said. 
  
Yager is an attorney with over 20 years of experience in the non-profit and government sectors advocating on behalf of women, children and marginalized individuals.  She previously served as the Director of Policy Initiatives for Maternal, Infant, and Reproductive Health at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.  Yager received a prestigious National Association of Public Interest Law (now Equal Justice Works) fellowship to provide legal services to young people at The Door in New York City. She subsequently served as the first Staff Attorney serving young people experiencing intimate partner violence at Break the Cycle-New York (now Day One), and from 2006 to 2014 served as a Staff Attorney and then the Supervising Attorney for Policy at HIV Law Project in New York.  Prior to law school, she worked as a Community Organizer for the Children’s Defense Fund-NY.  Yager is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law and Swarthmore College.
 
“After almost 50 years spent in the field of law and aging, I can honestly say that the Florida Health Justice Project is one of the most impressive organizations I’ve ever worked with,” said Paul Nathanson, President of the Board of Directors, Founder of Justice in Aging.  “Under Miriam’s leadership, the FHJP team has accomplished a phenomenal amount in just three years — from creating much needed tools and training for senior advocates, to leading successful Medicaid class action litigation, to leading coalition work on behalf of immigrants and other marginalized populations.  Alison has been front and center in much of FHJP's work, and the Board is thrilled that she will be our new E.D.”  
 
Florida Health Justice Project (FHJP) recognizes that access to quality and affordable health care is a human right and engages in comprehensive advocacy to expand healthcare access and promote health equity for the most vulnerable.  www.floridahealthjustice.org
 
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