The Brown University School of Public Health is pleased to announce U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-CT, will deliver the keynote address at the 2024 School of Public Health graduate ceremony on May 26th, during Brown's Commencement and Reunion Weekend.
As the top Democrat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, and the second woman to chair the Committee, DeLauro is a relentless advocate for working families and children. Congresswoman DeLauro has prioritized in the Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) appropriations subcommittee critical investments to support the strengthening of core public health capabilities at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), including increased funding for CDC laboratories, public health data modernization and investments in our public health workforce.
When she was Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, DeLauro established the public health data modernization program in her FY 2020 LHHS federal spending bill to modernize and integrate in real-time public health data systems with CDC, State, territorial, local and tribal partners. She also established the public health infrastructure and capacity program under the FY 2022 federal spending bill to help turn the tide on the nation's public health capacity.
A lifelong champion of paid family and medical leave, paid sick leave and improving women’s health care, DeLauro’s understanding of the multifaceted social determinants of health, such as poverty, resonates deeply with the mission of Brown’s School of Public Health. For example, DeLauro’s leadership was instrumental in the passage of the monthly, expanded and improved Child Tax Credit, which reached millions of families, reducing child poverty to the lowest recorded levels in history and helping children grow up healthier. She continues to lead the fight to make the expanded credit permanent.
DeLauro also leads efforts to improve and expand federal support for child nutrition, and for modernizing our food safety system. As an ovarian cancer survivor, she is an outspoken advocate for research and expanded access to care – particularly for women and underserved communities.
First elected to Congress in 1990, she represents Connecticut’s Third Congressional District, which stretches from the Long Island Sound and New Haven, to the Naugatuck Valley and Waterbury, to Wallingford and Middletown. DeLauro followed her parents into public service. She is the daughter of Italian immigrants who both served as members of the Board of Aldermen in New Haven; her mother was the board’s longest serving member ever.
A graduate of Marymount College and Columbia University, DeLauro in 1980 became the first woman in Connecticut to manage a statewide campaign, helping U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd win election. She served as his chief of staff through two terms. DeLauro then led EMILYs List, a national organization committed to electing pro-choice women to Congress.