Judith Kurland, of Boston, MA, joined NCHH's Board of Directors in June of 2003. Ms. Kurland served as the Region I Director for the Department of Health and Human Services during the Clinton Administration where she was responsible for guidance and coordination of HHS policies. Prior to that, she was the senior policy advisor and associate for health care at McDermott/O'Neill & Associates in Boston, where she provided counsel, direction, and strategic advice to public and private clients on healthcare issues.
Before joining McDermott/O'Neill, Kurland was the first female commissioner of the Boston Department of Health and Hospitals from 1988 to 1993, where she managed a department of 3,700 employees with an average annual budget of $180 million. While commissioner, Kurland was the principal architect of Healthy Boston, a city-wide initiative that sought to improve the health of the city, its neighborhoods, and its people by recognizing the power of communities and residents to rebuild their neighborhoods through a multi-sectorial partnership for change. She was also director of federal-state relations and chief of staff in the Lieutenant Governor's office, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, from 1975 to 1983. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College with an A.B. in political science, Kurland is a faculty member of the Harvard School of Public Health, Simmons College and the Medical Schools of Boston and Tufts Universities. Born in New York City, Kurland received Distinguished Service Awards from the Massachusetts Pediatric AIDS Society and the National Society to Prevent Blindness.