Jennifer Ng’andu Recognized for Her Achievements as a Leading National Health Care Advocate

Ms. Ng’andu Receives Families USA's Consumer Health Equity Advocate of the Year Award

Washington, D.C.—Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers, today is presenting Jennifer Ng’andu, Director of Health and Civil Rights Policy Projects at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), with the Consumer Health Equity Advocate of the Year Award at the annual Families USA Health Action Conference.

The Consumer Health Advocate of the Year award, presented every year since 1998, recognizes outstanding contributions on behalf of our nation’s health care consumers. Last year, Families USA began the practice of honoring leaders in the field of health equity. This year’s award is being presented to Ms. Ng’andu for her efforts as an advocate and a public spokesperson in protecting and expanding health care quality and access for Latinos and other communities of color.

“Jennifer is more than a “Who’s Who” in the health reform effort—she is really a personification of “Here’s How!” Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, said. “I’ve worked on the public stage on health care issues for much of my adult life, and I stand in awe of what Jennifer has been able to accomplish in her eight years with NCLR.”

Ms. Ng’andu joined NCLRin 2004, and for eight years, she has overseen the Health Policy Project, which aims to improve the health status and outcomes of Latinos through policy change. She has successfully advanced policies that expand health coverage options for Latinos, leading the organization's efforts to insert Latino priorities into the historic Affordable Care Act. Before that, she worked on collective efforts to enact a major children’s health initiative, which led to the restoration of critical benefits for legal immigrant children and families. As a result, more than 250,000 uninsured children received access to insurance, and Congress restored at least $1 billion of public health insurance to legal immigrant children and expectant mothers.

Outside of her work at NCLR, Ms. Ng’andu engages in other activities to strengthen health care in the United States.She sits on the National Physicians Alliance’s Board of Directors and on the Council of Consumers to encourage service, integrity, and advocacy among the medical professions. She is also Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Herndon Alliance. She recently was appointed by the government of Mexico to serve on the Advisory Board of Ventanillas de Salud, a cooperative program to promote access to preventive health care for Mexican immigrants in the United States.

Ms. Ng’andu holds a B.S. in psychology from Duke University. She was born in Lusaka, Zambia, and hails from southeastern Connecticut.

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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

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202-628-3030 · Email: info@familiesusa.org · www.familiesusa.org