Liz Fowler, a leading health policy expert in both the public and private sectors, will join the Commonwealth Fund as Executive Vice President for Programs on July 23. At the same time, Melinda Abrams has been promoted to Senior Vice President, overseeing the Fund’s programs on health care delivery system reform and international health policy.

Fowler most recently served as Vice President for Global Health Policy at Johnson & Johnson, where she focused on health care delivery system and payment reform in the U.S. and on health systems in emerging markets. Earlier she was a special assistant to President Barack Obama on health care and economic policy at the National Economic Council, and she occupied key positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she assisted with implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Abrams, who has been with the Commonwealth Fund since 1997, has contributed to or led key initiatives such as the Task Force on Academic Health Centers, the Child Development and Preventive Care Program, and the Patient-Centered Coordinated Care program.