Philip M. Farrell Distinguished Alumni Lecture: Nora Connors, J.D., M.P.H.

Nora Connors, JD, MPH, is the Director of Federal Government Affairs at Novartis

Summary

• Career Path and exploration of different roles/ways MPH foundation contributed
• Politics, Policy, and Public Health

Bio

Elenora (Nora) Connors has over 15 years of health care and public health experience in government, academia, and the private sector. She is currently serving as Director of Federal Government Affairs at Novartis.

Prior to joining Novartis, Connors was the Deputy Director for Public Policy & Partnerships at the Public Health Institute (PHI), leading federal policy and partnership development in Washington, DC. Before PHI, Connors was a Principal at a top-tier consulting firm where she provided strategic counsel and creative solutions for legislative and regulatory challenges to national associations, corporations, and non-profits. Connors moved to consulting after working as Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) health policy advisor, where she advised the Senator on state and national legislative and policy matters, including health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, health reform implementation, appropriations, hospitals and physicians, biotechnology and pharmaceutical policy, environmental health, and women’s health. Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Connors was a Law Fellow at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center as well as serving as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Office of the General Counsel and the Public Health Law Program.

Connors participated in Hillary For America’s Health Care Policy Working Group, as well as advised the Obama/Biden transition team. She sits on the board of a women’s fundraising group – The Jenkins Hill Society and a women’s global health nonprofit – The White Ribbon Alliance.
Connors has a Masters in Public Health from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and a Law Degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and Psychology from Macalester College. She’s published articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Journal of Law, Medicine, & Ethics, among other publications.