Sandra Wilkniss serves as a program director for the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices’ Health Division.  Dr.  Wilkniss’ work focuses on policies in behavioral health and social determinants of health, complex care populations, and the innovative integration of these into health system transformation efforts. She also leads the Center’s work on balancing access to and affordability of high cost pharmaceuticals.
Prior to joining NGA, Dr. Wilkniss served as senior legislative assistant for health care to U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman (NM) and Martin Heinrich (NM), and was the director of Thresholds Institute at Thresholds Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centers. She also held an adjunct assistant professorship at Dartmouth Medical School, an assistant clinical professorship at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and was chief psychologist of the inpatient psychiatry unit at the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago.
Dr. Wilkniss holds a Ph.D in clinical psychology from the University of Virginia and a BS in Psychology from Princeton University.