Shelly Weizman is the Associate Director of the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. She works on a project portfolio focused on the opioid epidemic, addiction policies, barriers to treatment for substance use disorders, public health approaches to drug policies and how law can promote access to treatment and support recovery.

Shelly Weizman, Photo: O’Neill Institute

Before joining the Institute, Ms. Weizman worked as the Assistant Secretary for Mental Hygiene in the Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York. In that role, she oversaw New York State’s efforts to address the opioid epidemic as well as policy and operations related to addiction, mental health and developmental disabilities.  Prior to joining the Governor’s office, Ms. Weizman served as Policy Director for Managed Care at the New York State Office of Mental Health, where she focused on developing and implementing systemic reforms within New York’s public mental health system.

Previously, Ms. Weizman served as a Senior Staff Attorney at MFY Legal Services, a not-for-profit legal services organization in New York City.  At MFY, she led efforts to expand and enforce the rights of people with psychiatric and physical disabilities, promote deinstitutionalization, and improve government oversight and accountability through legislative and regulatory reform, community organizing, and federal and state civil rights litigation. Ms. Weizman also provided advice and representation to hundreds of individual clients on civil legal matters including eviction prevention, access to health care and transportation, and individual civil rights matters.

Ms. Weizman received her JD with a concentration in Health Law and Policy from Seton Hall University School of Law and her BA from the University of Houston.