Karen Fisher, JD

Karen Fisher, JD, Chief Public Policy Officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), leads the AAMC’s public policy and advocacy on medical education, healthcare delivery, and medical research. Fisher provides oversight to advance the association’s legislative and regulatory priorities and develops policy proposals that support the work of academic medicine.

One of the nation’s leading experts on Medicare, Fisher has more than 25 years of experience in legislative and regulatory healthcare policy. Most recently, she served as senior health counsel for the Senate Finance Committee where she played a key role in drafting the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 and the new Medicare physician payment system. She also served as lead adviser on other Medicare concerns and healthcare policies.

Before moving to the Senate, Fisher spent almost a decade as senior director in healthcare affairs at the AAMC after serving as senior health policy analyst and general counsel for the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission—the precursor to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).

Fisher earned both her pharmacy and law degrees from the University of Pittsburgh.