Kavita Patel

Kavita Patel, MD, MS is a fellow in the Economic Studies program and managing director for clinical transformation and delivery at the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution.

Dr. Patel is a practicing primary care internist at Johns Hopkins Medicine. She also served in the Obama Administration as director of policy for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement in the White House. As a senior aide to Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s senior advisor, Dr. Patel played a critical role in policy development and evaluation of policy initiatives connected to health reform, financial regulatory reform, and economic recovery issues.

Dr. Patel also has a deep understanding of Capitol Hill from her time spent on the late Senator Edward Kennedy’s staff. As deputy staff director on health, she served as a policy analyst and trusted aide to the Senator and was part of the senior staff of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee under Sen. Kennedy’s leadership. She also has an extensive research and clinical background, having worked as a researcher at the RAND Corporation and as a practicing physician in both California and Oregon. She is a previous Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, and while at Brookings, she will return to providing clinical care as an internal medicine practitioner. She earned her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center, and her masters in public health from the University of California Los Angeles.