Shelly Weizman, JD is a human rights lawyer whose areas of interest include advancing public policy related to addiction, mental health, and disabilities. She currently serves as the Project Director of the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center where she works on a portfolio focused on the overdose epidemic and how the law can promote access to addiction treatment and support recovery.

Ms. Weizman is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown Law, where she introduced and teaches a course on Addiction & Mental Health Law and Policy. She is on the leadership team that developed a new Master of Science in Addiction Policy & Practice at Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. She also developed and facilitates the Recovery Policy Collaborative, a national network of experts in health, human rights, government and policy who have lived experience with addiction and serves on the Board of Directors of Faces and Voices of Recovery.

She is a national speaker on topics related to the opioid crisis; health law, policy and finance; addiction law and policy; and related subjects. Ms. Weizman previously served as the Assistant Secretary for Mental Hygiene in the Office of the Governor of New York where she oversaw policy and operations related to addiction, mental health and disabilities. She also served as the Policy Director for Managed Care in the New York State Office of Mental Health where she implemented reforms to New York’s public mental health system.

She was appointed an Empire State Fellow, a prestigious leadership training program with the Rockefeller Institute of Government designed to build a diverse bench of high-level policymakers in New York State government.

Ms. Weizman began her legal career as a civil rights attorney at MFY Legal Services, a not-for-profit legal services organization in New York City. Ms. Weizman is the recipient of the 2021 Mary L. Fleming Memorial Mentor of the Year Award from the SAFE Project and the 2019 Distinguished Public Service Award from the New York Alliance for Inclusion and Innovation. She holds a JD with a concentration in Health Law and Policy from Seton Hall University School of Law.