Staff

Matt Selig

is HLA's Executive Director. He has advocated for health care access for lower-income consumers since the early 1990’s. Matt began his professional career as the staff assistant for the Chief Counsel for Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s staff on the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources (now known as the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions). In Senator Kennedy’s office he participated in advancing national health care initiatives including proposals to expand access to health insurance and strenghen public health programs. He left Senator Kennedy’s office to attend Suffolk University Law School where he graduated magna cum laude in 1997. Matt then worked in the Massachusetts State House as a legislative aide to State Representative Kay Khan who now co-chairs the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities. In the State House, Matt drafted and helped enact various legislative and budgetary provisions including measures to improve mental health services and correctional health care. At HLA, Matt has represented and advised clients unjustly denied health care access and advocated for public policies to benefit low-income health care consumers. He received his undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

S. Stephen Rosenfeld

is the Volunteer Legal Adviser of Health Law Advocates. He is a specialist in health benefits law, including ERISA, health care consumer protection, long-term disability law and several related areas. He has litigated in all federal and state courts with jurisdiction in Massachusetts, including the United States Supreme Court, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Massachusetts Superior Court. He has served in the Executive Branch of Massachusetts Government as legal counsel to the Governor, and in the Department of the Attorney General, as chief of the Government Bureau. He has taught law at New York University, Northeastern University School of Law, and Boston College Law School.

Lorianne M. Sainsbury-Wong

is HLA’s Senior Staff Attorney. Her primary focus is implementation and constitutional protections for all legal residents under the Commonwealth’s health care reform. She also works on medical debt and collection issues and manages the Hospital Accountability Project. Before joining HLA, she was employed for over five years at a multi-lingual civil litigation law firm which included negotiation, mediation, arbitration and judge or jury trials. Lorianne is proficient in Spanish, and she is licensed to practice in the Massachusetts and New Hampshire state courts and the federal court. She gained professional experience as a neutral arbitrator with John Hancock regarding large-scale alternative dispute resolution, and she served as a pro-bono attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services’ Employment Unit where she co-authored “A Legal Guide for Newcomers to Massachusetts.” She was a paralegal at Ropes & Gray, while attending law school at the New England School of Law, and earned an International Legal Studies Certificate under the tutelage of the Honorable Justice Anthony M. Kennedy at the University of Salzburg.

Samuel Leadholm

is HLA’s Children’s Mental Health staff attorney. Prior to his work at HLA, he worked for three years as a litigation associate at a small Boston firm specializing in urban renewal and land use law. Before graduating from Northeastern University School of Law in 2004, he completed internships with U.S. Magistrate Judge Joyce London Alexander, Boston University’s Office of the General Counsel, Posternak, Blankstein & Lund and the Public Health Advocacy Institute. He has served as the Chairperson for the Mass Mental Health Center’s Human Rights Committee since 2005 and worked with adults with mental illness and addictions in a supported housing program before entering law school. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University.

Jenifer Bosco

is a Staff Attorney at Health Law Advocates, where she focuses on the implementation of mental health parity, and other health care access issues. Before joining HLA, Jenifer coordinated the CORI Project at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, and advocated for the state’s groundbreaking CORI reform law. Previously, she served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Fair Labor Division, and worked as a staff attorney at Merrimack Valley Legal Services, with a practice including government benefits, employment, and disability issues. After graduating from Georgetown University Law Center, Jenifer was a judicial clerk in the Superior Court of Massachusetts. Jenifer received her undergraduate degree from Boston College. She is admitted to the Massachusetts and California bars, as well as the United States Supreme Court and several other federal bars.

Alyssa Yenikomshian

is the Project Director for HLA’s Consumer Assistance Program (CAP). CAP is a newly implemented program at HLA that is committed to handling legal issues arising out of consumers’ access to health insurance benefits. Prior to joining HLA, Alyssa worked as a litigation associate at Rosenfeld Rafik & Sullivan, a law firm specializing in disability and health insurance. She represented individuals with chronic illnesses and disabilities in employee-benefit related matters including short-and long-term disability benefits as well as health insurance and long-term care insurance coverage. Alyssa has advocated to secure both public and private benefits for her clients through the administrative process and litigation. Alyssa graduated from Suffolk University Law School and completed the Health and Biomedical law concentration with distinction honors. She also received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University, where she majored in Psychology, Spanish, and completed a certificate program in Community Health. Alyssa is admitted to the Massachusetts bar and is a member of several bar associations.

Laura Healey

is a Staff Attorney and the current Parmet Fellow. Laura graduated from Northeastern University School of Law in May 2011. Throughout law school, Laura completed co-op positions at the Boston Juvenile Court, Stratify Iron Mountain, the Massachusetts Division of Labor Relations, and Segal Roitman, LLP. She also served as Team Leader for the Domestic Violence Institute at Boston Medical Center, and was on the Senior Staff of Northeastern’s Law Journal. Prior to law school, Laura worked for Health Law Advocates as an Administrative Assistant. Laura received her bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. She is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.

Anne Johnson

is a Staff Attorney at Health Law Advocates, where she serves as co-leader of the Medical Debt Project. Anne graduated with honors from Emory University School of Law, where she received the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement in Law and Public Health. Prior to law school, Anne served as a legislative aide for State Representative Alice Hanlon Peisch in the Massachusetts State House. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Richmond and received a Fulbright grant to work as an English Teaching Assistant in a bilingual elementary school in Spain. She is fluent in Spanish.

Scott Bryson

joins HLA as its first director of development. A lifelong “Greater Bostonian,” he received his undergraduate degree in political science and history from Boston University and a Master’s degree from Boston College. Scott began his fundraising career with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America before returning to Boston to run the alumni and development office at Boston University’s School of Management. As Director of Alumni Relations at Babson College, Scott had a leadership role in that school’s first major capital campaign which raised more than $100-million. He has led the development efforts of a number of national and international organizations including the Holderness School, Plan USA, and the International School of Prague. A longtime member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Scott has also done significant pro bono consulting for international organizations like the Alba Berlin Jugend Stiftung and Northern Ireland Children’s Enterprises (N.I.C.E.).

Robert MacPherson

is HLA’s first Chief Operating Officer. He is responsible for overseeing the administrative operations including support, payroll, financial reporting and systems. Prior to HLA, Bob worked in operations and accounting at BankBoston/Fleet Bank. He attended the University of Massachusetts and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Bob recently obtained a certificate in non-profit management from Northeastern University.

Alyssa D'Oria

is the Paralegal/Intake Coordinator at HLA. She is currently a third year undergraduate student at Northeastern University, earning a degree in Political Science with a minor in Business Administration. Alyssa is interested in attending law school in the future.

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