Christie Hager

Christie Hager is a public health lawyer and leader in health policy and behavioral health with a distinguished career spanning government, academia, and managed care. She holds an A.B. in Psychology from Smith College, an M.P.H. in Health Law from Boston University School of Public Health (1991), and a J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law. As a Distinguished Alumna of Boston University School of Public Health, Hager has served on the faculties of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, and Suffolk University Law School.

In government service, Hager was appointed Regional Director for Region I of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2010 to 2014, where she oversaw Affordable Care Act implementation in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Earlier, as Chief Health Counsel to the Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, she contributed to the development, drafting, and first three years of implementation of the 2006 Massachusetts health reform law. At Beacon Health Options, she served as Senior Vice President for National Client Partnerships, New England Region, managing behavioral health services for 50 million members. Her early roles included Research Assistant to the editorial team at the New England Journal of Medicine, research and operations positions at Harvard School of Public Health's Division of Public Health Practice, and appointment as the first Senior Fellow at the Schneider Institute for Health Policy at Brandeis University's Heller School. Hager has published in the New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Law and Medicine, and Journal of Legal Medicine. She chaired the American Public Health Association’s Health Law Forum, presided over the Massachusetts Public Health Association, and co-chaired the Health Law Section of the Boston Bar Association. Currently, she is Senior Advisor for Behavioral Health at MassHealth and the first female Chair of the Board of Directors of The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts.

Professional Email: christie.hager@state.ma.us