Abby Wong is a Health Systems Transformation Specialist at Advancing Health Equity program, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and housed at the University of Chicago. They provide technical assistance to five state & district teams of Medicaid state agencies, managed care organizations, healthcare delivery organizations, and community-based organizations. Additionally, they are the project manager and lead facilitator for program-wide technical assistance and evaluation efforts. They received their Master of Public Health with concentration in Health Systems and Policy from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health with a certificate in LGBTQ+ Health.
They have direct advocacy experience, delivering oral and written testimony against anti-trans, anti-queer bills in the 2022 Maryland state legislative session and completed their thesis on violence affecting non-binary and gender-expansive people in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to their graduate program, they lived and worked in St. Louis, Missouri for six years. As an Evaluation and Data Coordinator at Creative Reaction Lab, they developed a background in culturally responsive program evaluation and application of an Equity-Centered Community Design framework to health and racial equity work. They also have worked several capacities in the HIV service field, coordinating client services, fundraising, and community outreach with Vivent Health, an HIV medical home. Abby received their Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis’ Sam Fox School of Design with a secondary major in Biology.