Seattle - Washington Policy Center, Washington's premier free-market public policy research and education organization welcomes Tanya Karwaki as the new Center for Health Care Reform Director. This marks WPC's fourth research center, following the openings of the Center for Environmental Policy, WashingtonVotes.org, and the Center for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The Center for Health Care Reform will be formally announced at our June 6th Health Care Conference, "Moving Health Care Forward: Tools and Techniques for a Healthier Washington."

Tanya earned her a law degree from the University of Washington where she was a Symposium Editor for the Washington Law Review. Previously, she earned a Masters degree in Zoology from the University of California, Davis, in 1990 and a Bachelors degree in cell biology from the University of Washington in 1987. Her health care experience includes working as a healthcare risk management consultant for Physicians Insurance A Mutual Company and three years as counsel to the Washington State Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee.

As Director of WPC's Center for Health Care Reform, Tanya Karwaki will be in charge of health care policy research, publications, and health care events.

"We are thrilled to have someone with Tanya's background and health care expertise on our staff," said WPC President Dann Mead Smith. "We look forward to taking our research work on health policy to a new level with the launch of this new research center."