As Policy Director for Texans Care for Children, Adriana collaborates with the rest of the organization’s policy team to support their efforts, coordinates the team’s work across multiple policy areas, and leads organization-wide efforts to shape policy.
Adriana previously served as Texans Care for Children’s Senior Health Policy Associate, leading the organization’s work to improve infant and maternal health, promote healthy development during early childhood, and strengthen access to health coverage so that Texas kids and families can be healthy and succeed. Since joining Texans Care for Children in 2016, Adriana has played a leading role in advocating for access to children’s health insurance, passing legislation to provide more Texas mothers with transportation to prenatal care and postpartum care appointments, and passing legislation to ensure that 200,000 more Texas mothers have access to screenings for postpartum depression, among other successes.
She is frequently invited to testify at the Texas Legislature and speak at conferences about maternal health policy, advocacy strategy, children’s health, and other subjects. In addition to publishing op-eds, blogs, policy briefs, and other materials, she has published the following research reports:
- Healthy Moms Raising Healthy Babies: Central Texas and Statewide Challenges and Opportunities to Support Maternal Behavioral Health During the First Year After Childbirth
- First Steps: A Spotlight on Check-ups and Developmental Screening for Young Texans
- 8 Strategies to Address Parental Substance Use and Keep Kids and Parents Healthy, Safe, and Together (in collaboration with Kate Murphy, our Senior Child Welfare Policy Associate)
- Fostering Healthy Lives: Strategies to Prevent Teen Pregnancy in Foster Care and Support Teen Parents in Foster Care (in collaboration with Kate Murphy, our Senior Child Welfare Policy Associate)
- Alone No More: How Texas Policymakers Can Support Texas Mothers with Perinatal Depression
Before joining Texans Care for Children, Adriana worked at a national nonprofit in Washington D.C. where she developed and advanced policy solutions at the state and federal level to address a variety of health finance, public health, and health insurance issues and improve access to preventive care. Adriana also spent several years at a law firm counseling a range of clients on legislative and regulatory issues involving Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) as well as Affordable Care Act implementation. Adriana received her B.A. in History and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, and her J.D. from the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Law.
