Dr. Tisamarie Sherry is vice president for the Health Policy Division at the Urban Institute. She oversees a team of experts in health care financing, policy, and population health. The division’s work is driven by a deep commitment to improve access to high-quality, affordable health care that empowers all communities to thrive.

As a physician and health economist, Dr. Sherry brings a powerful combination of clinical insight, rigorous research expertise, and public policy to her leadership role. Motivated by her prior experiences practicing primary care, her research has focused on improving the well-being of people interacting with the health and long-term care systems, with a focus on older adults, people with behavioral health conditions and other disabilities, and people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Throughout her career, she has leveraged her medical training and policy insights to bridge the gap between evidence and action.

Before joining Urban, Dr. Sherry served in leadership positions at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She performed the duties of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), the principal adviser to the HHS secretary on policy development; and also served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary leading ASPE's Office of Behavioral Health, Disability and Aging Policy. She guided the department’s evidence-based policy development on mental health, substance use, aging, disability, and long-term care, including advancing HHS-wide strategies for behavioral health integration, overdose prevention, and strengthening data on the long-term care workforce. Dr. Sherry also was HHS’s liaison to the US Interagency Council on Homelessness and oversaw implementation of the National Alzheimer’s Project Act across HHS, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the US Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation, including maintaining the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease.

Before her tenure at HHS, Dr. Sherry was a physician-researcher at the RAND Corporation, where she focused on health care delivery, financing, and policy strategies to improve the health and economic status of adults with chronic medical conditions.

Dr. Sherry holds an AB in molecular biology and public policy from Princeton University and an MD and a PhD in health policy (concentrating in economics) from Harvard University. Dr. Sherry completed her residency training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.