Dania Palanker is an assistant research professor at the Center on Health Insurance Reforms (CHIR) at Georgetown’s Health Policy Institute. She analyzes state and federal health insurance market reforms, including implementation of the Affordable Care Act, with an emphasis on insurance benefit design, access to health care, and coverage for chronic health conditions.

Before joining CHIR, Palanker was senior counsel for health and reproductive rights at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), where she worked on private insurance policy, including access to maternity coverage, preventive services, and treatment for chronic health conditions through the individual insurance market and employer-sponsored coverage. Prior to joining NWLC, she worked for 10 years with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). During her time at SEIU, Palanker worked as associate director of health policy after serving as deputy administrator of health benefit funds providing health insurance to low-wage workers and their families.

Palanker holds a doctor of jurisprudence degree from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She received her bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College. She is a member of the New York and DC Bar.